Three Times the Potters
by always-a-time
Summary: Albus Severus decides to time-travel back with his siblings and cousins to change the past— three times the Potters— three times the fun, right? Nope, it's more like three times the chaos! Watch as these kids get themselves into more trouble than they could have ever imagined, dragging Harry, the Marauders and even Snape, in their wake.
1. The Potter Arc i

AN: This contains **major** spoilers for DH, and takes place 25 years later. Albus Severus decides to time-travel back with his siblings and cousins to change the past, three times the Potters, three times the fun, right?

* * *

The Room of Requirement - 2020

"It's a good idea!" exclaimed Albus Severus Potter, looking quite thrilled from where he sat comfortably on an emerald green armchair.

"No it's not," said Rose Weasley crossly, who was just across the Room in a matching ruby-red armchair, "There are only about a million things that could go wrong—"

"We'll all be older, though," said Lily Luna Potter dreamily, "that'd be nice."

"Yeah," said James Sirius Potter enthusiastically, "Teddy can have his parents back!"

"It can't go wrong!' Hugo Weasley parroted his older cousin, the two of them were seated on the carpet in front of the fire. "A great idea!"

"See," Albus said, "you're the only one against it."

"I've seen pictures," Lily Luna went on, smiling at them all from her seat on the only beanbag chair in the Room. "Al looks just like Daddy did when he was 13, and Daddy looks like Grandpa James."

"See!" James exclaimed, sitting up straighter, "it's foolproof. We go back, nab Dad, go visit Grandpa—"

"— and destroy all the Horcruxes!" chorused Lily and Hugo together, grinning at each other.

"Exactly," said Albus confidently, "it can't go wrong!"

"Well I don't think I should go," Rose said huffily in a manner reminiscent of Percy Weasley. "I mean, someone has to tell Mum and Dad and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny what idiots you all are."

Everyone flinched at that.

"You can't tell Mum and Dad!" whined Hugo, beating the floor slightly with a hand, "You always ruin everything, Rose!"

"Remember the time," Rose began scathingly, "where you thought it would be funny to trick Scorpius Malfoy into thinking the Room of Requirement was his Common Room, and left him there for the whole day?" Rose's voice rose at the end of the sentence, very close to the way Grandma Weasley did when she was mad.

"Look, it was just a joke," James said weakly, "Scorpius was fine afterwards."

* * *

The Hospital Wing - 1995

"Stay under the Invisibility Blanket," muttered Albus Severus from where the five of them stood in the Hospital Wing, "I'm the only one who comes out, remember?"

"_Muffliato_," James pointed his wand at Madam Pomfrey's office, "Alright— go."

Al tiptoed to the outskirts of the Blanket, careful to keep the others hidden, he threw off the corner, revealing himself to his 13 year old father and his 14 year old aunt and his 14 year old uncle.

* * *

"You what?" Aunt Hermione asked, sounding scandalized.

Albus looked embarrassed, "Time-travelled back 25 years to get Harry Potter— my dad— to travel back another 25 years to find James Potter and kill Peter Pettigrew?"

"This defies every single law for using Time-Turners—"

"Er, we didn't use one of those."

"We?" Harry asked, catching the slip-up.

Albus cursed himself, "The rest of your kids, and er— the cousins."

"Cousins?" said Ron, turning pale, "Who's cousins? I mean— who's your aunt and uncle then?"

There was the sound of a muffled scuffle from behind, and the other four children tumbled onto the floor.

"JAMES!" Rose shrieked, "I told you not to!—" Her voice died as she caught sight of her parents.

"Hi Dad," James Sirius waved from the floor, grinning.

It took a while to sort out, but in the end Harry agreed to go.

"Sorry you can't come Aunt Hermione," Lily said, "But this kind of travel barely recognizes Rose and Hugo as Potter kin, so I'm afraid you can't."

"So it only works with people related to me?" Harry asked, ruffling his messy hair.

"No, it works with anyone related to a Potter. Since Rose and Hugo are our cousins it works on them."

"I see …" Hermione's voice sounded half-strangled. It all went against, well, everything!

"Harry, can you hurt Snape for me when you get there?" asked Ron, from his bed.

"Ron!" exclaimed Hermione, the same time as Rose and Hugo had exclaimed, "Dad!", and James and Lily, who had exclaimed, "Uncle Ron!"

"How about just a bit?"

"After Albus told us everything he did, I don't think so!" Hermione said indignantly.

"He's still a git," Ron muttered, and Harry nodded in agreement.

Albus Severus placed a palm onto his forehead, "C'mon, let's get this over with."

"How about Lucius Malfoy?" Ron asked, "He's still a git 25 years from now, isn't he?"

* * *

The Great Hall - 1970

"So here are your lines—"

"Lines?" Harry Potter asked, clutching the folded parchment.

"Al's already memorized his," Lily Luna added helpfully.

"You didn't think we'd go back in time to encounter three nearly-identical Potters and not turn it into a prank?!" James Sirius demanded of his father.

"Er— I guess—" Harry started.

"Great!" James Sirius said, shoving Harry out from under the Blanket, "Go dad!"

Al followed his dad out into the Great Hall, where four unsuspecting, legendary Marauders were eating breakfast.

"I, James Potter, hereby claim this Great Hall in the name of Potters EVERYWHERE!" From behind Albus Severus Potter, lightning and thunder crackled mysteriously in the background as the sounds of four sets of feet pattered away under the Blanket.

Harry glanced briefly down at the parchment he was holding, feeling rather stupid. He took a breath, filling his lungs with air before yelling: "Bwahahaha! You cannot defeat the Power of Potter!" There was a moment where Harry was torn between horrid embarrassment and the desire to fall over laughing before Albus grabbed his arm and the two fled the Hall before disappearing under the Invisibility Cloak.

* * *

"I didn't do it!" squeaked the real James Potter from where he sat at the Gryffindor table, "I swear!"

"Why didn't you tell me about pranking the ENTIRE school?" demanded Sirius Black, after the laughter had died away.

"I didn't do it," repeated a terrified James Potter, "It wasn't me?"

"It sure looked like you," Professor McGonagall said haughtily, walking up to the Gryffindor table, "_two_ of you, as a matter-of-fact."

This failed to amuse James, who was staring in horror at the doors where the two dopplegangers had fled after their announcement.

* * *

The Room of Requirement

"That was—" began James Sirius.

"A horrible idea?" offered Rose.

"No— it was hilarious! Did you see the look on his face? I almost died!"Albus laughed, and Harry found himself grinning too.

"Best prank ever!" Hugo's fist punched the air, as James Sirius collapsed onto the floor in fits of laughter.

"Honestly!" said Rose, her arm protectively wrapped around Lily Luna's shoulder. "Boys."

Lily Luna giggled, leaning into her older cousin's embrace.

* * *

The Gryffindor Common Room

"I don't know how it happened!" James Potter repeated for the 19th time to some stupid student.

Thankfully, he had not been punished for the prank he had not even committed, due to the prank being 'out of the reach of any third-year student', according to Dumbledore.

Frustrated and befuddled, James finally snuck out of the Common Room under his Invisibility cloak, intent on finding out who had done this.

He was just making his way by the portrait of a wizard being beaten by trolls when the two boys from earlier appeared from nowhere and pointed their wands at him.

There was a flash of light, and James Potter fell to the ground, the victim of a powerful Stunner.

* * *

The Room of Requirement

'_Enervate_," Albus Severus said.

* * *

"I end up with Evans?" James cried gleefully, "Score for me!"

Rose made a sound like a hissing cat at James but said nothing.

Harry tried very, very hard not to gag or choke on his own saliva.

"Great," James said, rubbing his hands together like a sinister villain, "now we go kill Peter, right? Knew I should have never trusted someone with a rat Animagus form."

"Are you kidding me?" James Sirius said, "I think you're missing the big idea here."

"And what's that?" Harry asked cautiously.

"There are three of you, basically," James Sirius said, as if it was obvious, "We have the amazing opportunity to terrorize the whole school with the Reign of Potter!" He cackled evilly, throwing open arms into the air.

"_Muahahaha_!" echoed Hugo.

Lily Luna giggled.

Rose Weasley sighed again, "**Boys**."

* * *

The Transfiguration Corridor

"I am one of the three mighty Potters!" cried James, quite enjoying the terrified looks on the faces of the students in the corridor. "Face me if you dare!"

"Potter, stop being an idiot," said Lily Evans angrily, "We know it's you!"

James eyed her with a superior smirk, "You won' be saying that 25 years from now, Evans—"There was a loud 'SMACK' as Lily's hand made contact with James's face, causing the latter to stumble and fall onto the ground.

"Not so high and mighty now, are we Potter?" sneered a snooty blonde from the window. It was Lucius Malfoy.

Suddenly, a blurred figure leapt out of nowhere and slammed Lucius Malfoy to the ground.

"That was for my dad—" howled the red-headed boy, before disappearing with out loud, "eeek!", and a burst of light.

"That kid looked like Fabian Prewett!" shouted a sixth-year student.

"No, he had red hair— it was Arthur Weasley!" said another.

Everyone looked at Molly Weasley, who was related to one and dating the other.

"I don't know!" she said, looking just as confused as anyone.

"I'm bleeding here," James wheedled, clutching his face and broken glasses.

Suddenly, another James Potter appeared.

"Nice try, Evans!" the boy crowed, picking up the … other James Potter.

Then they both disappeared in a sudden burst of light.

Everyone looked at Lily Evans, who looked furiously at the spot where the two Potters had vanished.

"Boys!"

* * *

The 5th Floor Corridor

"Thank Merlin for Notice-Me-Not Charms," panted Albus, who was half-carrying the whiny James with Harry.

"I told you it wasn't a good idea to antagonize girls," said Rose, glaring, "and you—" she turned her icy glare on Hugo, "—what were you thinking? You could have ruined everything."

"Hugo's attack on Lucius Malfoy was funny," Lily Luna argued.

"Yeah, funny until the school starts a betting pool on who's double shows up next," Harry said sarcastically, "I thought we were here to fix things, not make them worse?"

"We will," James Sirius said offhandedly, "Just a spot of fun, that's all."

"A spot of fun?" James groaned, "Evans slapped me! That's not supposed to happen!"

"You were acting like a git, and Al had to rescue you," Rose noted, exasperated."Lucius Malfoy is a git!" Hugo interrupted, "Why is it bad I hit him but not that Grandma hit Grandpa?"

"Hey, hold off on the 'grandpa' thing," James complained, "I'm 13, not— not 80!"

"Well, what are we supposed to call you? We already have a James," asked Lily Luna.

"I was first," James argued.

"Enough with the arguing!" Harry interjected, "Let's just make Pettigrew fall off his broom or something and get to the Horcruxes already!"

"Exactly!" Rose said hurriedly, "Let's go before one of you is mistaken for someone else!"

* * *

AN: That's it for this chap! Please review if you like it!


	2. The Potter Arc ii

AN: Chap 2! The plot thickens ... By the way, to prevent any confusion James is James and James Sirius is James Sirius. ^^ Enjoy!

* * *

The Room of Requirement

It hadn't taken long to find the diadem in the item-cluttered room with the seven of them looking. They looked at the burnt and withered tiara, which was leaking a tar-like substance from where it lay on the ground.

"One Horcrux down, mate," James fist-bumped James Sirius, who grinned.

"Now let's plot Pettigrew's demise!" Albus Severus said, "He's a grandparent-killing traitor!"

"We can't _kill_ him," Rose grimaced, arms crossed in resemblance of her mother. "He hasn't done anything yet!"

"But he will," Hugo said, annoyed, "And I like having James around, he's cool!"

"Yeah, James is cool!" James repeated, smirking at Rose.

"Let's get down to plotting first," James Sirius interjected, as Rose opened her mouth to retaliate.

"So are we actually going to kill him?" asked Harry, "I mean, in my time I was just going to send him to Azkaban."

"Tell him your plan, James," Hugo tugged on the sleeve of James Sirius's robes.

"Alright," James Sirius said, grinning widely, "so my idea was to have all three of you guys trick him into entering Moaning Myrtle's bathroom—"

"She's still there 50 years from now?" James said, revolted.

"Yeah, she is," James Sirius made a face, "and we feed him to the Basilisk, which is still there, right? Then the trauma of being murdered by three James Potters should turn him into a ghost—"

"—and he'll be stuck in the bathroom with her forever!" Lily Luna and Hugo chorused, giggling together.

"Do we really want three annoying ghosts here?" Harry asked, "I mean, Myrtle and Peeves are bad enough."

"What're you talking about? Peeves is the coolest ghost—" James Sirius began before he was cut off by half of the people in the room.

"You _canno_t be serious."

"He's a menace!"

"A _menace_!"

"He's the rudest person I've ever met!"

"Remember that time when he dumped water all over Lysander when he set his cauldron on fire? That was pretty nice of him!"

"Hugo, the cauldron is _supposed_ to be lit underneath! Honestly!"

* * *

"So," Harry raised his voice so it carried over the sounds of the bickering family, "we're not going to kill him, just use the Unbreakable Vow so he won't betray us in the future."

"Will it be enough?" Albus asked, running a hand through his hair, "I mean, if it doesn't work, and he still betrays them somehow."

"I just won't make him Secret Keeper," James argued.

"But you won't remember anything afterwards!" Rose said, "That's why we have to fix things now!"

"What'd you mean I won't remember?" Harry asked.

"You didn't think we'd just tell you all this future stuff and not be worried about you messing up the future!" Albus exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "That would be the stupidest thing we've ever done!"

"And we've done some pretty stupid things," Rose remarked snidely to Harry, who was still frowning.

* * *

The Gryffindor Boys' Dorm

Peter Pettigrew was reading a beautifully handwritten note from Mary MacDonald, asking if he would please meet her outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom where they could talk alone?

It smelled like flowery perfume.

He could possibly be the first Marauder to land a girlfriend! That would stop James and Sirius from teasing him all the time. Peter hastily replied to Mary via owl that he would love to. He stood up, almost knocking over his ink bottle before rushing to his trunk to change his robes.

* * *

Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom

"I can't believe you convinced me to write that note," muttered Rose.

"You're the only one with girly handwriting and perfume," James Sirius said smugly, "It's a brilliant idea, James even said so!"

James nodded.

"A brilliant idea!" Hugo cried.

"_And now we wait_," Albus said in a low, mysterious voice.

"And now we wait," Harry agreed in a normal voice, still trying to shake off Lily Luna, who was clinging to his arm.

* * *

Harry under his Invisibility Cloak, James under his Cloak, and five other children under the Blanket. The seven of them watched Peter Pettigrew round the corner, whistling to himself.

James, Harry, and Albus tensed.

And the three generations of Potter revealed themselves to the grandparent-killing traitor.

"You're not Mary MacDonald!" cried Peter. He should have known it was James's idea of a prank.

"Obviously," drawled Albus Severus.

Peter swallowed nervously, "I know what you're doing!"

"And what's that?" Harry asked.

"You want to clone me too! But I won't let you!" Peter announced, and Harry— struck by the feeling of deja-vu— pulled out his wand and started to cast the Full Body-Bind Hex—

And Peter Pettigrew changed into a rat.

* * *

The Room of Requirement

"Why'd you have to jump on him for?" Rose demanded of her younger brother, "You could have killed him! He's a rat, not a stuffed Pygmy Puff!"

Hugo was still looking pleased with himself as he replied, "He was going to get away! You should be thanking me, Rose."

"Yeah," James Sirius echoed, "He would've gotten away, Rose!"

Harry glanced at the slowly stirring form of Peter Pettigrew. "He's waking up, he seems okay."

"Great," Albus said, "now the rest of you lot clear out. We've got work to do."

"Work?" Lily Luna questioned skeptically, "You three are going to have fun! I want to stay!"

Harry shook his head the same time James did.

"Boys!" Lily Luna sniffed.

Not you too, Lily!" said Hugo, shaking his head as Rose looked on approvingly.

* * *

"I don't want to be cloned," wailed Peter Pettigrew from where he had awakened on the floor, "I'm too young to die! I'll do anything else— just please! Let me live!"

"We won't kill you if you do what we say," said Harry darkly, not forgetting for even a second that this was the slimy boy who would eventually betray his parents to Voldemort.

"Yes!" gasped Peter, "Anything you want— anything at all!"

James had to turn away at this point, because it was too funny seeing Peter grovelling for his life on the floor.

"We want you," Albus intoned, before pausing dramatically, "to make an Unbreakable Vow."

"An Unbreakable Vow?" Pettigrew sniveled, still sounding scared. James turned around to face him, smiling in the most evil manner he could muster.

"Yes," James said in a hoarse whisper, "we are Seers, Peter Pettigrew, and our jobs is to change and our job is to change the future!" Dramatic music began to play and lights flashed in the background. Peter whimpered pitifully.

"So you're not James at all," Peter said, shaking.

"We have assumed the form of the one you must protect," Harry replied.

"P-protect James?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Albus, "Protect James Potter, protect his family!"

"Give me your left arm," James said, holding out a hand.

Peter offered his trembling forearm, and James pushed up the sleeve of the Gryffindor's robe, smirking. This had to be the best part of the entire thing. There was the sound of an uncorking bottle and the dipping of an eagle-feather quill in ink. James drew a smiley face where the Dark Mark _would_ have been years later— in Everlasting Ink, of course.

"Let that serve as a reminder!" boomed James, glowering at Peter and thoroughly enjoying himself in the process.

Now it was Harry's turn to face the wall and bite down on his knuckles in a futile attempt to keep from laughing.

"Now onto the Vow!" Albus declared, grandly gesturing outwards.

Pettigrew's screams echoed around the Room as he finally caught a glimpse of his arm.

* * *

"It took you half an hour?" James Sirius asked the trio, sounding suspicious.

"We made him write it all down a bunch of time so he wouldn't forget, and make the addition promise to keep it on him at all times. The vow was pretty long though, so it took him a while. He writes about as fast as Ron does," Harry grinned.

"What did he say when he say the happy face?" Hugo asked eagerly.

"He screamed," James said smugly, "like a girl. Shame we didn't have a camera to take photos."

Everyone laughed then; even Rose smiled a bit.

"Sucks I'm not even going to remember this afterwards," James sighed.

"That's okay," Albus said, "first thing I'm going to do when I get back is put this in a Pensieve."

"This is why they don't sell Everlasting Ink to minors," Rose rolled her eyes.

"This is why Uncle George is awesome!" Hugo said, pumping his fist in the air.

"You got it from George?" asked Harry curiously.

"He's a very understanding guy when it comes to pranks," James Sirius said solemnly.

"Boys!" said Lily Luna.

"No, you have to wait for them to say or do something stupid first," Rose instructed.

Hugo made a face, "You're corrupting my best friend!" he complained, "You _always_ ruin all the fun, Rose!"

* * *

The Boys Bathroom

Peter was frantically trying to scrub off the face on his arm when Sirius Black walked in.

"Been looking for you everywhere, Peter! Have you seen James? Remus is looking for him on the other side of the castle! Where've the two of you been?" Sirius said crossly, striding up to where Peter was arm-deep in the sink.

"N-nothing!" he squeaked, tugging his sleeve over his sopping wet arm. "Haven't seen James at all, no—!"

"What're you doing?" Sirius asked suspiciously, peering at the soapy sink.

"N-nothing!" Peter repeated, shrinking away.

"Well, 'nothing' sure didn't use to be a happy face on your left am. You're not thinking of joining the Unicorn Eaters or something like that, are you? I mean, I'll support your decision entirely if you have."

"N-no!" squeaked Peter.

"Well then, I'll leave you to it," Sirius smirked, "See you, Wormy. Keep an eye out for Prongs, won't you?"

Peter waited for Sirius to leave before muttering, "It's not like I have a choice any more, do I? I'm looking out for him whether or not I want to." He rolled his sleeve back up and resumed trying to scrub the ink off his arm. "Never seen anything like this, it's like it hasn't even been invented yet ..."

* * *

AN: That's two chapters in a week! Wow. Well, we're approaching the end of what I've written in advance, so it'll be longer before updates after this. Review please!


	3. The Potter Arc (End&Aftermath)

AN: Here we go! (fyi, Lily = Lily, Lily Luna = Lily Luna)

I'm also in need of a beta, (realized today that the some of the parts in Chapters 1 and 2 had been repeated ...) so feel free to PM me if you'd like to do that _and_ read all the chapters in advance. ;)

Enjoy!

* * *

The Room of Requirement

"So, how're we going to get the other Horcruxes? I still have school right now, and you guys can't spend too much time here," James said.

"Easy enough," Albus replied smoothly, "you write your future self a note, we take Dad— er, Harry— and go forward a few years to where you're an adult, and then we destroy the rest of them."

"So ... wait," Harry said, looking befuddled, "Repeat that!"

Albus repeated it.

"It sort-of makes sense," James said slowly," but how many years is 'a few years'?"

"Before you and Grandma Lily marry, so we don't accidently have two Harrys," said Lily Luna, beaming.

"Two Harrys would be awesome—" James Sirius began.

"So what do I forget when you guys leave?" James asked loudly.

"Anything you said or did with us after we told you who we were," Rose said smartly.

"So I'll remember the two of you in the Great Hall?"

"Yup," said Hugo.

"Damn," James muttered, "everything after that is a lot to forget."

"Yup," said Hugo.

"You're not being very helpful," James remarked.

"Yup," said Hugo, fighting back a smile this time.

Albus shrugged in a 'what-can-you-do?' way.

"And we have to do all of this before Voldemort turns Harry and Nagini into Horcruxes," Lily Luna added.

"So we need the ring, the cup, the locket, and the diadem, which we got rid of already. Isn't breaking into Gringotts going to be kind of hard? Even if you say I did it before, I was in my 7th Year, so I was probably a lot smarter than I am now," Harry said doubtfully.

"We can get Sirius to help us," James Sirius said, "you said we need him to get the locket anyways."

James sighed, "I'm going to miss you all after, even if you are all insane."

"We're family!" James Sirius exclaimed," so you'll see us again! Besides, we won't leave just yet ..."

"I sense doom, impending doom," Rose murmurer darkly to Lily Luna, who nodded.

* * *

The Great Hall

There was an odd tenseness in the Hall as students filed in for the last lunch of the school year. People seemed to be waiting for the grande finale, and none of the Potters wanted to disappoint. Let it be added that Hugo didn't want to disappoint either, but his sister had downright refused for the Weasley name to be involved.

James Potter was sitting at the Gryffindor table, a copy of the note he'd written for his future self in his hand, along with another explanation note. Peter was mysteriously missing, (James thought he knew why but said nothing to Sirius. Sirius actually knew where Peter was; Peter was still in the lavatory with a washclothand a rubbed-red arm), and Remus was currently in the Hospital Wing, to be discharged in the afternoon to board the train.

"Sirius?" James asked awkwardly.

"Yeah?" Sirius replied thickly, chewing his sandwich briefly before swallowing it, "What? Is this about the prank at breakfast? Or where you were after that?"

"No, well, yes," James paused, "something's going to happen in a few moments, and I'd like to let you know that this time, it is in fact my idea to prank the entire school. However—" James held up a hand as Sirius tried to interrupt, "I'm not going to remember any of it after, since it's part of getting those doppelgangers to do this for me. So there's something I want you to do for me."

Sirius, who had never seen James Potter look so serious in his entire life, nodded. "Go one," Sirius said, stuffing a roll into his mouth.

"See this note in my hand?"

Sirius nodded.

"This one I need to read as soon as possible after the prank," James held up the second note, "alright?"

Sirius nodded again.

"And this one," he held up the note-to-future-self, "I need you to give me the moment we graduate Hogwarts. And don't tell me about this one before then."

Sirius swallowed the remnants of his roll, "Right."

"I won't remember writing these notes or anything after, so it's also your job to convince me."

"Shouldn't you be getting Moony to do something complicated like this?"

"You're my best mate, I know I can trust you," James assured him, grinning.

Sirius grinned too, clapping James on the back as he took the two notes. "Your wish is granted, Prongs."

* * *

The prank exploded with the force of a bomb. The doors of the Great Hall swung open with a startling trumpet from an unseen source, revealing two James Potters with long Dumbledoresque beards.

"We have grown tired of this piteous realm!" boomed one.

"Tis time for us to depart!" cried the other.

"_Potter is power_!" This came from a number of voices behind the two wizards, supposedly where the trumpeting was coming from, but no one could see anything behind, so it must have been faked.

Both Potters raised their wands in unison, and the crowd held their breaths.

A large banner proceeded to errupt from the two wands, with the words 'POTTER IS POWER' emblazoned on it in fiery lettering. The two boys spread out and the banner fluttered and shimmered under the clear sky of the ceiling.

"_POTTER IS POWER_!' came the same voices from before, louder and more pronounced.

The banner flew off the wands and headed directly towards the Head table, where teachers began to scramble out of their chairs.

"_**POTTER IS POWER**_!" shrieked the voices a final time as the banner hit the shocked professors.

The James Potters swept a Cloak over themselves and vanished with a loud _crack_!

"But you can't Apparate inside Hogwarts!" Lily Evans protested in shock, standing up, but the rest of the student body was currently occupied with the spectacle at the Head table.

As the banner fluttered to the ground and disappeared, revealing stunned teachers and a beardless Dumbledore.

* * *

The beat of silence was broken by none other than Gilderoy Lockhart, who took it upon himself to clamber onto the table a strike a pose, pointing at where James was dazedly sitting.

"James Potter stole the Headmaster's beard!" he shrieked to the room at large.

"I didn't do that!" James screamed in panic, looking utterly confused, "It wasn't me!"

"Yeah!" Sirius added, "They didn't even _look_ like him this time! These ones had beards!"

* * *

The Hogwarts Express

James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin were sitting by themselves in a locked compartment, having just sent Peter Pettigrew off to find the food cart. James had also pointedly made sure to send him in the wrong direction after the food cart had passed by.

The three boys were currently bent over a handwritten note. They hadn't gotten a chance to read it early since James and Sirius had been promptly dragged off to the now beardless Headmaster's office. However, since Sirius didn't know anything and James didn't remember, they were released by an irate Professor McGonagall.

"Go on, open it," Sirius urged.

The reason why they had sent Peter out of the room was because the outside of the note clearly stated: 'DON'T SHOW PETER' in James's writing.

"Alright, alright!" James unfolded the note.

_Dear me,_

_They'll be talking about this pranks for at least fifty years to come, I can assure you that. Sorry that we've been Obliviated, but really it's for the best. Just trust me when I say there was some pretty important things that you should not remember. You'll find out everything again someday, so don't worry about it. _

Sirius made an odd coughing sound here, but said nothing.

_Don't mention any of this to Peter, we can't trust him with this._

Remus's eyes widened slightly at that.

_I can tell you right now this summer will be one of the greatest, but here are a few words of wisdom for the years to come. Try not to be such a big-headed git in front of Evans, I can tell you right now girls don't think like that at all. Tell Sirius to not be such a git to Kreacher too, it's always useful to have a house-Elf around at any rate. Also, make sure Sirius introduces Remus to Nymphadora, I'll bet they'll both like that._

"Who's she?" Remus yelped, "Who's Nymphadora?"

"_Nymphadora _is my one-year old cousin," Sirius replied, guffawing loudly, "Calm down, Moony."

"Oh," Remus said, "Alright. I just thought—"

"We know what you thought," James laughed.

"Read the last bit—" Remus said hurriedly, cheeks pink.

_P.S. We've left you an assortment of pranking goods in your trunk. Be VERY SURE you do not get caught with ANY of these in your possession. There are mind-boggling consequences if you do._

_P.P.S. We also left a updated version of the Cloak, which is not a sturdy but is much larger and has a Shield Charm on it, which will block most minor spells, jinxes, curses, and hexes._

_Being you soon,_

_James Potter._

"Well, that settles it," James yawned as he stretched back onto the compartment seat.

"Settles what?" Sirius asked, already wishing that they were back at school so they could start using all their new prank tools.

"With all of this lot we'll be able to rule the entire school, no problem. We've got some major thanks to give to those doppelgangers, and the best way to do that is to mastermind a prank in their name."

"You mean you name?" Remus stated pointedly.

"Exactly."

"Only you could make light of being Obliviated, James," Remus sighed, shaking his head.

"You have do admit, making Dumbledore's beard vanish is pretty advanced stuff, Remus. You're just jealous!"

* * *

The Hogwarts Grounds - 1999

Six small figures picked themselves up off of the dirt, looking rather nauseated. Rose brushed some dirt off of herself in a snobbish manner, tossing her hair back a bit.

"I suppose you lot think that was funny," she remarked to her giggling family.

"It was," James Sirius replied, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Hilarious," Harry agreed.

"Historical!" Albus Severus remarked, offering both Potter boys a high-five, to which they accepted.

"Bloody fantastic!" Hugo affirmed, grinning.

"Boys!" Lily Luna huffed, despite her giggling and the huge smile that threatened to overtake her face.

* * *

Under the Invisiblity Blanket six pairs of eyes (two emerald green, two bright blue, and two warm brown) watched from the sidelines as four Marauders, Lily Evans, and Severus Snape graduated.

"Is that Severus Snape?" Lily Luna asked in a hushed whisper, "Is that who Al is named after? The man who loved grandma?"

"Shh!" Rose said harshly, her gaze locked on the subject of speech. She'd read every single Muggle romance novel she could get her hands on, and then when she'd started Hogwarts she'd read all of the Wizarding ones from the Hogwarts library. Aside from being a closet romantic, Rose Weasley was hopelessly in love with Severus Snape.

How romantic was it that he'd pined for Lily Potter nee Evans for his _entire life_, only to be shunned by her? And after Lily Potter's death, he had worked for the side of Good as a spy in order to bring down Voldemort, _just for Lily Potter_. His Patronus was even a doe! You didn't get much more romantic than that.

Quite unfortunately and quite by mistake, many of the novels written after the Second Voldemort War did not include the nastier aspects of the martyred man.

Aside from that, Rose Weasley could not wait to get a closer glance at Severus Snape.

Harry noted his niece's (really, just thinking that word made him feel slightly ill, he should not be anyone's uncle at 13) reaction with ill-disguised interest. The usually prim and proper Weasley girl was staring at Snape the same way ... well, the same way he caught girls staring at him. It was rather unnerving.

"Are we going to approach them now or wait until they board the train?" James Sirius asked, completely oblivious.

"We can't wait until they board the train, we'll end up losing them," Al said, equally ignorant of his surroundings, "We'll cast some discreet Amortenia Charms. They'll be lured by the scent."

* * *

James Potter was currently basking in two glorious facts.

One: He was a Hogwarts graduate.

Two: He had just proposed to Lily Evans and she had said yes.

His arm was wrapped around the waist of the girl of his dreams, and nothing was going to ruin this moment, especially not Sirius Black.

"But you have to read it!" Sirius was wheedling, "You promised, James—"

The four of them— Sirius, James, Remus and Lily— were standing off to the side, avoiding the blustering crowd of sobbing parents and family members.

"I told you I'll do it later, can't you just be happy for Lily and I?" James said, feeling annoyed by his friend's behaviour.

Lily, who had been standing silently by his side, spoke up. "Do you smell that?"

This startling question snapped both males from their posturing. Sniffing the air slightly, Remus noted the faint smell of fresh parchment, chocolate and ... something sweet like bubblegum. "Yeah, I do," Remus's brow furrowed slightly.

"I smell," Sirius began, taking a few steps towards the more secluded part of the grounds, "Broom polish and ... food."

"What food?" Remus asked.

"Iunno, just smells like breakfast at the Great Hall," shrugged Sirius.

Lily snorted, "Figures all you think about it food. I smell sandalwood, fresh fruit and ..." her voice trailed slightly.

"And?" James prompted, smirking at his now-blushing fiancee.

"Well, are we just going to stand here like daft gits or are we going to find the source of this mysterious smell?"

"Doesn't this seem the least bit suspicious to any of you?" Remus remarked, crossing his arms. "Following a smell that's been crafted to each of us to be the most attractive? This doesn't ring a bell?"

"Amortenia!" Lily said as it dawned on her. "But that's a potion, there can't possibly be enough to lure us from all the way over here, it's got to be something else."

"Nothing bad ever happens to students at Hogwarts," James winked at his friend, "Let's go check this out."

The four of them made their way towards the tempting scents.

* * *

AN: Ta-da! We shall see what happens next ... updates should happen on Tuesdays, every week or every other week from here on out, depending on school, etc.


	4. The Weasley-Snape Arc i

AN: Here is your awaited chapter!

* * *

The Hogwarts Grounds

Severus Snape watched as the three boys and Lily walked away from the crowd, eyes narrowed. Where did they think they were going, they'd only just graduated! It was oddly suspicious behaviour to begin with— you'd have thought holier-than-thou Potter wouldn't be able to leave the spotlight for more than a few moments. Being the graduating Gryffindor golden boy was supposed to be the last time for Potter to rub it in.

He'd heard Potter proposing to Lily, of course. The git wouldn't have proposed anywhere else, since he wanted the entire Wizarding World to know Lily Evans was his. Grimacing bitterly, Severus cast a discreet Notice-Me-Not charm, and made to follow them.

* * *

"Hmm, I don't see anything," Sirius muttered, plodding across the grass and scanning the ground with his wand, "even though the scent seems the strongest here."

James shook his head, "Maybe this is someone's idea of a prank— hey, hold on a second. Sirius, d'you still have that note?"

"Yeah, why—?" Sirius was cut off as Remus, who was standing a few feet away, suddenly let out a shout. The rest of them spun around frantically to face the sound— James raised his wand and fired a warning beacon into the sky— but then everything went black.

* * *

The Shrieking Shack

"You guys've got a dramatic tendency problem," mumbled Rose, "or something like that. It's not good if you keep Stunning them all like that!"

"Bugger off, Rose! It's a completely effective method!" James Sirius complained, from where he was arranging the bodies of the graduates against the wall of the Shrieking Shack.

"You're just lucky I stopped that spell from alerting the entire school to our presence!"

A groan emitted from one James Potter, effectively ending the conversation. "Where am I?" he blinked, "Oh, it's you guys."

Remus held a hand to his head, eyes still closed. "You know these maniacs? Figures."

"We told you to read the note," Hugo shook his head in mock sadness, "If only you had listened, we wouldn't have had to do this."

"James never listens to anyone," Lily Evans groaned, sitting up.

"Not even me, apparently," Sirius added.

"Hey," James retorted angrily, "what's this? You lot are all ganging up on me!"

* * *

From the corner of the room, Severus Snape was getting seriously bad vibes. Having cast an invisibility spell, it was hard to make out his outline unless you were looking for it. There was the faint shimmer of magic surrounding him, but other than that he was completely camoflaged.

Snape remembered the doppelgangers, and he remembered James Potter being exonerated for 'lack of proof', but here was all the proof he needed that they had indeed been consorting together! Potter should have been expelled those years ago, he thought, gritting his teeth, not graduating today.

He would have called them out on it there and then, but he wouldn't be able to take on the ten of them by himself.

The fact that they had chosen the Shrieking Shack of all places did not help to steel his nerves.

* * *

"Read the note," Albus insisted, "it explains everything. You can stop pestering us for questions."

James heaved a heavy sigh and held out his hand. Sirius rummaged around in his robes and pulled out the scrolled parchment, before handing it over to James. Everyone shuffled into a more comfortable position.

"Alright," James began, "ahem—"

* * *

Snape let out an inhuman splutter as he caught sight of the two Potter-doppelgangers. They sure had looked like duplicates of Potter from faraway, but now that he could see them better he noted that they had moss-green eyes—

* * *

"_Dear me,_

_I do believe that by this point and time you are to be engaged to one beautiful Lily Evans. Congratulations, mate._

_You should let Harry and Al explain in detail, and you should know that you should trust them. They're from the future. Sirius will recall that you wrote this note in advance for yourself before you were Obliviated, that was because we couldn't mess up the whole space-time-continuum thing. I don't really know what that is, but they assure me messing with it is bad.  
_

_Now that you are an adult, you're going to help the lot of them destroy the Horcruxes— which are pieces of You-Know-Who's soul embedded in different objects. Once all the pieces are gone he'll be able to be killed for good.  
_

_This will prevent a lot of deaths in the future, including your own._

_Mischief Managed,_

_Prongs._"

"You knew you were going to be engaged to me?" Lily asked in a soft tone, which bode danger.

"From what it sounds like, it wasn't his fault," Remus interjected, "they just told him. And he was Obliviated afterwards anyways."

"It's alright," Rose said loudly, "I completely agree with you, Lily. Most boys_— _particularly these ones_— _are idiots."

* * *

"Anyways," Harry said, feeling like he was, in fact, the only adult here despite being four years younger than James, Lily, Remus and Sirius. "As the note said, we're from the future. We're here to stop Voldemort_—_" A few people in the room flinched, Snape was one of them, "from coming to power. So in order to do that we have to destroy the Horcruxes. And in order to do _that_, you lot have got to learn to get along. This means you, Rose," Harry fixed her with a stare, "we may be thick-headed boys but we do mean to do our best, alright?"

There were nods and muttered agreements from around the room.

"Great," Albus said, "now I'm going to start from the beginning of the story, so you listen up."

"I want to tell it this time," Hugo protested.

"No, it's my turn, Al, Hugo helped last time!" Lily Luna complained.

"Hush," Harry said, "Lily Luna, you can sit with me if you listen quietly."

Lily Luna's face lit up, and she ran across the room to seat herself on her father's lap. Harry let out an audible '_oof!'_ as she pounced.

"Hey Lily," James grinned, "wanna come sit on my la_—"_

_"NO."_

"Alright, no need to be touchy."_  
_

* * *

Snape was still in the corner, watching the madness with dark eyes.

Watching the redheaded girl tell them off was kind of fun, actually. It reminded him of how Lily had always told Potter off before_— _well. Before.

Watching Potter ask Lily to sit on his lap was decidedly not as fun. At least she had refused.

* * *

"_There once was a boy named Harry, destined to be a star— _Harry, please raise your hand so everyone knows who you are."

Harry did so.

"_His parents were killed by Voldemort— _that's James and Lily, please raise you hands for posterity."

James and Lily did so, glancing at each other in confusion before glancing at Harry, who waved at them.

"_Who gave him a lightning scar._ That's Harry. With the scar."

Harry lifted up the fringe of hair to reveal the famous scar etched onto his forehead.

"_Harry goes to Hogwarts, he meets Ron and Hermione—_"

"Who's Ron and Hermione?" Sirius asked.

"They're explaining it, you dolt, listen," Lily swatted him.

The explanation continued.

* * *

"That was fun," Lily Luna beamed. "I like it better when Al sings it, though."

"Sings it?" James said, sounding revolted, "It's a song?"

"It did rhyme," Remus said automatically, "But what was that again about me getting married?"

"To Nymphadora Tonks," James Sirius grinned widely, enjoying the older boy's discomfort.

"She's— she's what? Five right now?" Sirius grinned back at James Sirius as Remus spluttered.

Lily's eyes widened. "Why Remus, I never thought you the type to_—_"

* * *

"Well," Harry exclaimed over the voices, trying to bring some order to this meeting, "now that we're all reacquainted and acquainted, we're going to start hunting Horcruxes, if that's alright with you lot!"

"How many did you say there were?" Remus asked.

"Erm, the cup, the locket, the ... I've already forgotten the rest," James trailed off.

"The ring and the diary," Rose said, "Really, James, Al _just_ went over it_— Merlin_! We almost forgot the diary! Albus!"

"Okay, okay, it's okay, we remembered! So which one are we going to destroy first?" Harry pressed.

"Well, we don't know actually," Albus muttered. "We're not quite sure exactly when each Horcrux fell into the hands of the Death Eaters. We know Lucius Malfoy has the diary at some point, the Lestranges are given the cup, Regulus Black steals the locket, but I suppose that's what we can get first, since it should be at the lake-cave thing. The ring will take some time, we'll need to break through some pretty ancient wards to get it."

"So where is this locket?" Lily asked skeptically.

"In a cave_—_ near a beach_—_ near an orphanage_—_ where Voldemort stayed at as a child."

"Harry," Remus asked suddenly, "you said you could cast a full corporeal Patronus? You think you could show me? I mean, one that can fight off a hundred Dementors is an astonishing feat."

"We can all cast Patronuses," Hugo piped up, and the rest nodded.

"Da_—_ I mean, Harry taught us!" Lily Luna added.

"Sure," Harry said, "I can try. I've only done it the one time, though."

"Give the guy some space!" hollered James Sirius. Everyone backed up a few steps, leaving ample room for the Patronus in the crowded Shack, which was saying something.

Harry concentrated on the fact that he was here with his kids, his nieces, his nephews, his parents and Sirius and Remus. He thought about how they were going to destroy Voldemort. He thought about how he would be able to grow up with his parents and that there would be no more Boy-Who-Lived. He thought about all his friends and how they would be safe. He thought about it all and then he shouted:

_"Expecto Patronum!"_

* * *

After everyone had regained use of their eyesight, James was the first one to speak.

"That thing nearly burned my eyes out!" he complained.

"It's given me a nasty headache besides," Rose remarked idly, clutching her head, eyes still closed.

"What happened?" Hugo's eyes were wide as he took the in luminous shape of the stag in the middle of the room. It's head was lifted in a proud gesture as it cantered in slow circles around the room, even passing through them from time to time. "Why was it so bright?"

"I think," Harry answered slowly, "it was because my thoughts were extremely happy. So it came out extremely bright."

"What were you thinking of?" Lily asked softly.

"A world without Voldemort."

They were all quiet for a few moments.

"Yeah," Sirius said, "that's happy thought."

The stag stepped up beside Harry, nudging him slightly. Although Harry didn't physically feel it, he would feel the tingling sensation of magic brushing up against his shoulder. Having caught it's casters attention, the stag's mouth opened and it spoke.

Harry paled visibly.

"What did it say?" Lily Luna asked.

"It said that there's someone in the room with us."

"Did it say _who_?" Rose asked impatiently, wand drawn as she glanced round.

"Severus Snape."

Rose Weasley's wand clattered to the floor noisily.

* * *

AN: Hope you liked that! Feel free to send me any plot idea you may have, and I can try to integrate them in!


	5. The Weasley-Snape Arc ii

AN: I ship Snape. Hard. With myself, of course. I have no regreeeeets!

* * *

The Shrieking Shack

With a horrified start, Snape scrambled quietly to his feet, mind whirring as the air whooshed past his ears. He had to get out, he had to get out, these people were either crazy or actually form the future, and if they were from the future he had to get out and stop them before they did something completely insane like_—_ something. He had to get out.

* * *

"_Homenum Revelio!_" incanted Lily. The tip of her wand glowed and her eyes widened.

"Strip search the room!" shouted Hugo and James Sirius together, and with practiced motions they both pulled out containers of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder.

"James, _no!_" Rose shouted, scrambling for her dropped wand, but it was too late. The entire room was engulfed in pitch black.

* * *

Snape had only just started making his way over to the exit when the everything was plunged into utter darkness.

"Damn it!" he hissed under his breath, groping along the side of the wall. Using _Lumos_ would be a dead giveaway in the darkness. Snape would have to find his way out in the dark. The fact that the tunnel leading out of the Whomping Willow was riddled with rocks did not help things.

* * *

Hugo and James Sirius pushed their way around the room in the Darkness, ears keen as they swept through the walls and the floor, shoving startled family and friends out of the way. It was much easier to detect invisibility spells in the dark. You could see the faint shimmer more clearly.

The current faint shimmer they were trying to detect was making it's blind way towards the exit.

"GOT HIM!" Hugo cried out, "Tree-hole exit, James!"

"GOT IT!" James Sirius hollered back, "Wronski Feint Maneuver!"

Suddenly there was a yelp as the shimmer flew towards the ceiling.

"DOWN!" yelled James Sirius.

Hugo complied, mentally casting _Liberacorpus! _with his wand.

The shimmer started to fall, but them stopped, seemingly hovering a few inches in the air.

"GOT HIM!" James Sirius repeated, his wand trained on Snape to keep the Hover Charm in affect.

"CLEAR!" Hugo shouted, "Cover your eyes!"

Now he was throwing glowing Peruvian Instant Brightness Powder out. The affects of this new powder counteracted the first, and after the flash of light faded the room was back to normal.

Snape was floating in the air a few inches off the ground, still invisible.

Rose's wand was trembling as she said: "_Finite Incantatem_."

* * *

"Let me go!" spat a visible Snape from the air, where he was still being denied gravity. "_Let me go_!"

"I'm guessing he heard everything," Albus sighed noisily.

"Can't we just Obliviate him?" James asked, staring at the straining figure.

"There's no point, seeing as he'll just forget everything when we're gone. Besides, he could help us. He knows_—_ he knows a lot of Dark spells, I bet," Harry looked down at his future Potions Professor. There was a hint of curiosity in his tone, he could hardly believe this tall, scrawny teenager would become the tall, scary Potions Master.

"I think we need to calm him down, first of all," Remus replied, looking worried, like Snape would suddenly break loose and attack them all.

"Lily, I volunteer you as volunteer," Sirius remarked from his post against the wall.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Lily argued.

Rose finally recovered from her semi-comatose state. "I volunteer! Me! Pick me, Uncle Harry! I'll be the most responsible future-niece ever, I promise!"

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter

Snape stared down his hooked nose at the teenaged Weasley girl. The smile on her face threatened to split her whole head wide open.

"Who are you?" he managed.

The two of them were sitting in a side room inside the Potter home, of all places.

Rose took a huge breath before exhaling. "I am Rose Hermione Weasley. My mother is Hermione Jean Granger, Muggleborn, and the brightest witch of her age. My father is Ronald Bilius Weasley, Pureblood son of Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett.

You are Severus Tobias Snape, son to Tobias John Snape, Muggle, and Eileen Cassopeia Prince, Pureblooded heir to the Prince line. In the future you become a Death Eater, and after Lily Potter nee Evans dies you throw yourself at the mercy of Albus Percival W_—_"

"I know his name," Snape interrupted through gritted teeth.

"Yes, well," Rose gave him an appraising sort of look. "You agreed to work for the side of Light in exchange for protecting Lily Potter and her family, which, by the way, was something Dumbledore would have done _anyways_, which wasn't really a smart bargain on your part but I suppose it make your sacrifice all the more tragic."

The rambling redhead was giving him a headache. Resisting the urge to knock his head against the finely varnish wooden table, he gave the Weasley girl his best glower. 'What does all of this have to do with me?"

"It has everything to do with you! In the Battle of Hogwarts you die after practically saving Harry Potter's life a million times over! You're a hero! A saint! A martyr, if there was still a war going on! If you were alive in my time you'd be maybe the 5th most eligible bachelor in the Wizarding World!"

His eyebrows rose at that. "Fifth?"

"Well let's see, there's Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom ... good point. Probably 4th," Rose nodded emphatically.

"Fourth?" Snape echoed. He'd always adored Lily Evans, he'd follow her to the ends of the Earth, but part of him had always imagined what'd it would be like to have hoards of adoring girls following _him_ to the ends of the Earth.

Rose gave him what she hoped was a flirtatious smile, "You'd be the most eligible bachelor back in my time. Harry, Ron, and Neville are all married."

The corners of his lips twitched as he thought it over. If he helped them, there were a number of positive things he would get out of it.

1. He'd get to spend time with Lily, save her life, and maybe get her to at least be friends again with him.

2. Er. That was about it, actually.

"Alright," he said readily, "what do I get out of it?" Maybe the girl had some ideas.

She frowned, "Isn't fighting for the side of Light enough for you?" He seemed a lot more snarky than she had imagined him to be.

"If it was enough," he drawled, "I wouldn't have joined the Death Eaters."

"Well, you shouldn't be doing this for personal gain!"

Snape sighed, "How do you know that trying to change the future won't just make everything worse? How do you know that if we do this I don't end up dead by some creepy cave, by a lake, by an orphanage?"

"You don't, and that's the point! You're supposed to be brave!"

"I'm not supposed to do anything until the Potters die, according to you," he argued.

"Well, if you don't want to help us we can just Obliviate you," Rose suggested, frustrated.

He crossed his arms in a manner frighteningly close to the way his portrait back at Hogwarts did, "I suppose I'll help you all out of the goodness of my heart, then."

Rose beamed.

* * *

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Lucius Malfoy was _supposed_ to have been watching one Severus Tobias Snape graduate, then he was _supposed_ to have taken one Severus Tobias Snape to his initiation before the Dark Lord. Instead, he was scanning the crowd for a seemingly non-existent Severus Tobias Snape. This was not good. If Snape had bailed— then he, Lucius, would be the one to face the Dark Lord's wrath.

Lucius had thought Snape would come. He had thought he had convinced the young Slytherin well enough to join their ranks.

Fuming, Lucius turned to where everyone was being ushered towards the exit gate. They would find Snape, wherever he was. The Dark Lord would make sure of it.

After passing the point where the Anti-Apparation wards wore off, Lucius Apparated to Malfoy Manor in a flurry of finely-cut black robes.

* * *

Malfoy Manor

He opened the door with a wave of his wand. Making haste to the basement, he shut the door behind him and started down the stairwell to his master. It would not do well to be late, especially when bringing bad news.

Malfoys were not supposed to show fear. This was one of many lessons Abraxas Malfoy had beaten into Lucius as a child. Therefore when he told the Dark Lord of Snape's sudden disappearance there was no quaver in his tone. It was Snape's fault, he thought bitterly, there was no way in hell it made sense for him to pay for the half-blood's crime.

The Dark Lord was intelligent, he would see that Snape was the one to be punished.

* * *

"He _disappeared_?"

"Y-yes, my Lord."

"_Crucio!_"

It should have been expected, but Lucius crumpled to the ground nonetheless. Failure was not tolerated.

* * *

The Dark Lord had was not amused. Even after a few rounds of Crucio, he was still not pleased. Severus Snape would have been a valuable asset to their cause. Lucius's reports had described him as a aimless swot who was enamoured with a Mudblood, but Snape excelled at the Dark Arts and Potions, both of which most of his Death Eaters seemed to be incompetent at.

Thinking was another thing they happened to be incompetent at, with few exceptions.

He had thought Malfoy was one of those exceptions, but today's debacle begged to differ.

Now that Lucius had composed himself on the living room floor, it was time to dish out some orders. Clearly this free-thinking strategy was not working.

"_Imperio_," he hissed. It was time for a change.

* * *

AN: Voila! We have the first appearance of bad guys who will be taking our young heroes on! Hoorah! Happy Holidays everyone!


	6. The Weasley-Snape Arc iii

AN: Will Lucius grow another head? Read on, dear readers. (Wait, I have readers? Maybe I'm imagining things ... ) Happy 2013 everyone!

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter

"Alright, so ..." Remus was sitting at the Potter dinner table (which was much larger than it really needed to be), surrounded by— dare he say it? Potters, Weasleys, and Snape.

"I've agreed to help you," Snape said stiffly, from where he sat a good 12 feet away from the Marauders. Rose, who was sitting next to him, nodded enthusiastically.

"Shouldn't we make him sign a magically binding contract, or make an Unbreakable Vow, like Peter?" James asked, shifting closer to Lily subconsciously.

"Severus can be trusted," Rose managed calmly, even though she was eager to defend her hero. "We can be assured of that. The future doesn't lie, James."

"No, but Sniv— Snape does." Sirius and Snape seemed to be locked in some kind of glaring contest.

Snape snorted, and Rose nudged him gently, muttering, "Don't worry about them. Honestly I thought this was a terrible idea to begin with, but now that we're here I wouldn't have even bothered with those two. Really this is all Al's fault," she trailed her gaze over to her cousin, who was locked in conversation with his father as they plotted.

Raising an eyebrow, "Isn't everything always a Potter's fault?" Snape replied.

Rose thought about it for a moment. "Actually, yes. Well, in my time that seems to hold true. Except everything is either James or Al's fault."

"Indeed."

* * *

"So are we going to pack or something like that first? I mean, won't we need to get past some wards and protective enchantments?" Lily asked.

"Rose packed everything," Hugo said proudly. "Dad says she's got our mum's brains, and that I needn't worry about anything as long as I've got her. He says mum used to pack things for them all the time, so they'd be prepared, and when they went to go hunt Horcruxes she even packed his jeans without him knowing."

"They were the wrong size though," James Sirius grinned, "Uncle Ron doesn't let her forget it."

"Wouldn't a simple _Engorgio_ fix that?" Remus asked.

"Yes, but imagine, wasting your magic on that, just to be hit by a _Finite Incantatem_ later?" Lily interjected.

"Alright, I concede. But it's really a little thing to complain about."

"So Remus, hit it off with Nymphadora Tonks yet?" Albus asked knowingly.

"He met her this summer," Sirius chortled, leaning suggestively over next to Remus and wiggling his eyebrows. "She loves him. First time she sees him, her hair goes bubblegum pink."

All the Potters, with the exception of James, seemed to smirk at each other.

"She's a Metamorphagus," Lily Luna explained to the room at large.

"Can we cut the conversation and get going?" Harry groaned, coming dangerously close to whining, something he was pretty sure he'd never done in his entire life.

"I shouldn't be surprised this lot is so disorganized if a Potter is in charge," Snape raised his voice from across the table.

* * *

The Horcrux Cave

"Here we are."

All of them gazed warily at the entrance, which would, if things were still the same as they would be in the future, require a blood sacrifice.

"Dibs on not," James Sirius said, still staring at the entrance.

"Same here," Hugo added.

"You lot are wimps," Rose scoffed, pulling out her wand and stepping forwards. "If you won't I'll do it."

"Stop being ridiculous," Sirius said weakly.

"Nevermind," Snape snapped, brushing by Rose, "I'll do it. Just because all you so-called adults are too afraid to spill a little blood, doesn't mean I am." He pulled up the right sleeve of his robe before non-verbally casting the Cutting Hex. He didn't flinch as he rubbed his bleeding arm against the rock Al had gestured to earlier.

"What you should be thinking about is who's going to drink that terrible potion," Lily said.

"We'll draw for it or something," Remus decided. "So it'll be fair."

"We've already got the solution for that part," Rose said numbly, her hand rubbing the tingly spot where Snape had passed by her.

Al and James Sirius began the march into the Horcrux cave.

* * *

James, Sirius, and Remus stared into the murky depths of water surrounding the island.

"Where's the boat?"

"It's invisible, Lu," Hugo answered. "And we're supposed to Summon it or something."

"_Accio invisible boat_!" Lily Luna shouted, her voice echoing all around the cave.

There was a low rumble, and suddenly eerie green chain came up out of the lake, which Remus pulled at with his wand, causing a water logged boat to follow shortly. It was already extremely small to start with, and it did not appear any larger to the group of ten people who were supposed to board it.

"Don't suppose we could enlarge it?" Sirius asked.

"I'm still in shock that Voldemort was stupid enough to have a Summoning Charm work on it. That's Third-Year material!" James Sirius shook his head morosely.

"It's Fifth-Year, what are you on about?" James retorted.

"Not in ... in a lot of years it isn't," James Sirius shot back. "It's Third-Year."

"But Lily Luna's in Second-Year, isn't she?" Harry pointed out.

"She's smart," Rose replied smugly. "I've been tutoring her. Lily Luna Potter is on the same level as any Third-Year at Hogwarts."

"Fifth-Year to us," Lily corrected. "So that's even better! Good to know we have some intelligent people here," she smirked at James, who held his hands up in a surrendering posture.

"If you're going to compare me to a twelve-year-old," James started defensively.

"Back to the boat!" Harry insisted. "How are we all going to fit without it sinking on us? You said there were Inferi in the water!"

"No worries," Al remarked. "It can hold an unlimited amount of underage wizards. Meaning we can only take one of you lot with us." Albus nodded his head towards the five older graduates.

"Shotgun!" Sirius hollered, jumping into the boat, causing it to sway back and forth dangerously, sending ripples of water across the lake.

"Idiot!" Rose groaned, as the boat began to move across the lake, "Jump out! It starts moving right away!"

Sirius's eyes widened comically as he scrambled to get out, but the boat was already too far away.

Running up to the edge, Snape flicked his wand at the panicking Gryffindor, who promptly flew towards the ceiling ankle first. Snape likened this moment to sweet poetic justice.

"_Accio stupid Gryffindor!_" he shouted.

Still floating in the uncomfortable position, a flailing Sirius zoomed towards land.

"Severus Snape!" Lily demanded, worried for Sirius's safety. "Slow that down! He's going to crash into a wall!"

Snape turned to look at her with one eyebrow raised, but the suspended boy slowed to a more manageable pace before coming to a stop over them.

"What the hell was that for?" Sirius hollered.

"To get the boat back, moron!" Rose snapped at him, gesturing angrily towards the now returning vessel. "If you hadn't been a 'stupid Gryffindor', as Severus put it, and jumped into it without consulting any of us first—!"

_Severus?_ Hugo mouthed at Lily Luna, who shrugged in return.

Harry mumbled something about hoping after all this, his family wouldn't be half as insane as this version was.

* * *

Once five teenagers and one adult were safely ensconced in the tiny boat, Harry motioned for the three Marauders and Lily to approach the edge.

"Just make sure the Inferi don't get us, alright?" Harry said wearily, feeling more like a tired parent than anything else.

"You got it, Godson!" Sirius gave him a mock-salute.

"He got that from James," Lily rolled her eyes. "Who got it from Remus, who—"

"Who of course got it from sticking his nose in a book," James finished, swinging an arm over his friend's shoulder.

"Get out the thing," Albus told Rose.

"It's not just a 'thing'," Rose insisted, digging around in her purse. "It's basically a magical digestive system—"

"Which is totally gross, so cut it out, Rose," James Sirius grunted.

"We have the less-gross version, which involves only the mouthpiece and leaves out ... less desirable pieces," Rose crinkled her nose up in distaste, pulling out a flesh- coloured set of lips. "Our Uncle George reckons it's funny for you to put it on your friend's plate during meals when he or she sin't looking and then watch their reaction when they turn around to see an empty plate. This thing eats faster than my dad does, which is saying something. We've tested it on potions before, but we've yet to test it on this particular one, of course."

"Fascinating," Snape answered, not sure if he was being sarcastic or not.

"The worse version comes with the complete digestive system. Although I have no idea why."

They reached the island just then, Hugo and Lily Luna clambered out nimbly and helped steady the boat as the rest of them exited.

"Here goes nothing," James Sirius said cheerfully.

* * *

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Lucius Malfoy and a young House-Elf named Dobby arrived inside with a crack.

"Dismissed." The tone was flat and lifeless. Of course, it would have been unsafe to Apparate under the affects of the Imperious, not to mention it was surprisingly useful that House-Elves could Disapparate in and out of the wards easily.

Dobby vanished with a loud '_crack_'.

"_Point me,_" the same lifeless tone murmured. The wand in the pale hand lit up and spun around and around before finally the light vanished and the wand stilled.

The expressionless face of Malfoy turned around and began walking towards the now empty grounds where Hogwarts' graduates had enjoyed their celebrations. A few quick spells later, he was directed towards the Shrieking Shack. After that the trail went cold. There were no clues to be found on the mysterious doppelgangers.

He would have to do a trace for Snape's magical signature to find them. Thankfully, Lord Voldemort had easier ways of finding his followers.

Lucius summoned Dobby and disappeared into the darkening day.

* * *

AN: It would have been longer but I wanted to post this today. D: Longer chapter either next week or the week after, promise! I made some very minor tweaks after my frantic upload on New Years Day, nothing that needs noticing.


	7. The Weasley-Snape Arc iv

AN: I now do remember that the title 'ancient and most noble house' is not mine. I'd like to add that to my nonexistent disclaimer. As for the potion in the basin, let's just say I've no idea about it, but for the plot's sake it's as I write it. You may have noticed I renamed the chapters by arc. This arc shall likely end in one more chapter. After that, who knows? ;)

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter

Tracking the device he had planted on Severus Snape earlier that day was easy. Poor sod hadn't even removed his buttonhole until he had arrived at the Potter home. Lucius stood disguised in between two Muggle dwellings as Voldemort pondered the situation.

The space was where the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter was hidden by a Fidelius Charm or some such. It made no sense for them all to stay here, unless they were plotting. There had to be some reason why they had kidnapped the graduates; some task that they needed them to complete. Through the strings of the Imperius, Lord Voldemort went over what Lucius had seen of the mysterious teenagers.

_"Not so high and mighty now, are we Potter?" Lucius sneered from where he leaned against the window. James Potter had to be the most thickheaded Pureblood to grace the halls of Hogwarts._

_Suddenly, a blurred figure leapt out of nowhere and slammed him to the ground. Dazedly, he struggled to see who it had been—_

_"That was for my dad—" howled a red-headed, absurdly freckled boy, before disappearing with out loud, "eeek!", and a burst of light._

_"That kid looked like Fabian Prewett!" shouted a sixth-year student._

_"No, he had red hair— it was Arthur Weasley!" said another._

His father? Arthur Weasley ... Fabian Prewett. Weasley was engaged to Prewett's sister, he knew. He had ordered his servants at Hogwarts to deliver reports on possible Pureblood marriages as well as future Pureblood children. The Weasleys were a large lot, it was hard to mistake the boy for anyone _other_ than a Weasley. Was this boy a possible relation, however distant?

All of the Weasleys had attended Hogwarts, however.

He was going to need someone else's memory, someone else who had been linked to that peculiar day at Hogwarts.

Ahh, yes. Peter Pettigrew. The lonesome, spineless boy who had mysteriously separated from the group known as the Marauders. He had been there, hadn't he? At the heart of the group, then.

Malfoy Disapparated once more with Dobby, this time to Pettigrew's home. Merlin, was his mother in the for the shock of her life.

Powerful, wealthy socialite, _Lucius Malfoy_, gracing her doorstep, asking for her poor boy? She'd faint from pride and joy.

* * *

The Horcrux Cave

Rose dropped the strange fleshy device into the potion. The set of lips sunk in to the very bottom, unmoving.

Snape stared down his overly large nose at it. "Where are the wonders or magic you promise with this ridiculous invention?"

"Hold on, she has to activate it first. Usually you activate it before you use it, but then it would have been less likely to go through the magical barrier," Albus said testily, as Rose began a series of simple wand movements.

From across the lake, James Potter held his lit wand aloft, aimed at the suspicious waters below. He could see the movements of creepy human bodies.

"You know what?" James said to Sirius, who was standing beside him.

"What?" Sirius asked, who's wand was also pointed in the same direction.

"We summoned that boat with a simple _Accio!_, don't you think that's a bit too easy?"

"Actually, now that I think about it—"

"You've thought about it?" Lily said skeptically, grinning. "That's a first."

"Yeah, well, _anyways_," Sirius went on, "If he's such a great wizard like all those sods say he is, why doesn't he have better protection on the piece of his bloody soul?"

"Overconfidence, probably," Remus guessed, eyeing the proceedings in the center of the cave as best he could.

As Rose finished the last flourish of her wand, the lips began to move. They all watched in amazement as disturbing slurping noises started sounding, echoing ominously off the walls and ceiling. The level of the basin lowered, and lowered, and lowered.

"Halfway point!" James Sirius said excitedly.

The lips stopped. Rose, Snape, and Albus swore under their breaths at the same time.

Lily Luna produced a long metal stick from her wand, and stuck it into the basin to prod at it. There was a loud shriek, and the mouth vanished.

"What was that?" Remus asked worriedly, as Al kicked the rock violently a few times.

"It's gone," Rose said in a timid tone, staring blankly at the murky potion. "Someone's going to have to drink the rest."

"B-but, that stuff's supposed to make you relive your worst memory ..." Harry said worriedly, already remembering the Dementors. The cold, terrible feeling that you would never be happy ever again. He didn't want to have to face that again; he didn't want any of his family to ever face that. Hell, he didn't even want _Snape_ to face that.

They stood there for a good ten minutes trying to think of a solution.

"Are there painful side affects?" Snape asked suddenly. "Or is it only the mental ones?"

"So far as we know, it's only mental with possible physical side affects. There were some studies done on it, mainly by my mum. You relive your worst memory, but keep in mind, for most people it was a lot worse since their memories were linked to physical pain."

"Then I think I've got the solution," he said smugly. He'd beaten all the Potters to the punch, as well as Black and Lupin and Lily. Of course, he knew he smarter than they were, but it was nice to prove the point every so often.

"Spit it out, then," Harry said impatiently.

"We have her drink it," Snape pointed at Lily Luna, who flinched at the gesture.

"Lily? No way! You can't have a little girl—"

"—_little_ girl?" Lily Luna glowered angrily at Hugo, who quieted.

Harry mulled it over for a few seconds. "It makes sense. I mean, how bad can her worst memory be? She hasn't experienced a whole lot."

"I think," Rose said thoughtfully, "we were so caught up in our own worst memories we had a hard time remembering that the innocent, and the young, don't have any."

"What's your worst memory, then, Lils?" Al asked his cousin.

Lily Luna pursed her lips, pleased at all the attention. "Well, iunno. Maybe that time when I saw you and James off to Hogwarts, but I couldn't go with. I sulked for a whole month."

"Can that even count as a 'worst memory'?" Sirius sulked himself, thinking of his own worst memory, which began with his insane mother and a number of very bad hexes, and ended with him living at the Potters. "It seems unfair."

Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. "She'll take a sip, _one sip_, and we'll see how it goes. Lils, are you sure you want to do this?"

Quietly, Lily Luna swallowed. She was a bit nervous now. "Y-yeah."

"Don't worry," Rose said soothingly, placing a calm hand on Lily Luna's shoulder. "One sip won't be anything at all."

"You should sit down." Snape conjured her a cushion to sit on.

Albus silently conjured a glass and scooped up the tiniest bit of the potion in it. It sat in there, looking very much like poison. "Here," he handed it off to Harry, who backed away a few steps.

"Me?"

"Yes you," Rose said tightly. "You're the dad."

Harry relented and took the glass, kneeling next to his future daughter, who gave him a shaky smile.

"Er, you ready for it?" Harry asked, not offering her the potion just yet.

"No, who would be?" Snape muttered, and Rose elbowed him. He scowled back at her but did not retaliate.

Hugo sat down next to Lily Luna on the floor cross-legged for moral support.

* * *

Lily Luna had tears streaming freely down her face as Harry tipped the second glass into her mouth.

Everyone who hadn't had the decency to cry after the first glass went ahead and started crying, with the exception of Snape, who remained stoic and unmoving.

* * *

"_Water_," Lily Luna croaked after the potion was finished.

"Sirius, James, Remus, Lily, NOW!" Rose yelled out, as she and Harry carefully brought Lily Luna over to the edge of the rock to drink the lake water.

From the shore Lily and Remus conjured large nets of flames to battle the Inferi that were now trying to come out of the water. The nets caught a few, and the smell of burning bodies filled the air.

Sirius and James began to fire off balls of flames.

Snape cast a spell that surrounded the small area in front of Lily Luna with a wall of protective fire. Rose shot spell after spell into the mass of Inferi.

Hugo and James Sirius held the boat still as the Rose, Snape and Lily Luna clambered in. The boat did not move.

"It's not moving!" James Sirius began panicking.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Rose screamed as an Inferi rocked the tiny vessel. She shot fire at it and it sunk back down, but was instantly replaced by another dead, lifeless, body. Yelling in fury, Rose began her attack like a madwoman, her wand making large swooping, crashing movements as body after body fell in her wake.

Albus tried to shove the boat off from the rocky edge, but it was stuck.

James Sirius threw all the Firebombs in his stash, which were altered from the original Dungbombs, and watched in fearful awe as the Inferi lit up and incinerated.

"Yeech!" Hugo said, pinching his nose. "They reek!"

* * *

They were _fighting_.

* * *

They were _losing_.

* * *

They were dangerously close to being _outnumbered_.

* * *

"_James Bloody Potter_!" Snape shouted breathlessly, as another batch of Inferi hit the water, stumbling back from the bright flames. He and Rose were dueling their hardest to keep the hoard away from the boat, while James Sirius and Albus were protecting the two frightened children huddled in the bottom of the boat.

"OPEN THE ENTRANCE!" Snape continued.

"Are you insane—?"

"JUST DO IT!"

James Potter paused from the fight, slashed his arm with his wand, and rubbed the arm against the proper stone to open the way out.

* * *

As soon as the entrance came into view—

_Levicorpus!_ Snape thought, and with a flick of his wand the entire boat shuddered, stilled, then flew towards the ceiling at a rapid pace.

"SUMMON THE BOAT!" Rose shrieked, catching on quickly.

Lily had the sense to do it first as the rest of the Marauders held off the new onslaught of Inferi now stalking after the flying boat.

"Duck!" Rose shrieked again as they neared the ceiling. They all dropped as low as they could, the older ones shielding Hugo and Lily Luna with their bodies. A moment of horror overtook the group, and there was a terrible noise as the boat scraped against the ceiling. Rose could feel the rocks bumping and scratching her cloak and backside as Lily Evans attempted to commandeer the boat around the more dangerously pointy rocks.

Somehow in the darkness above the lake, in the boat, Snape felt a scrambling hand grab onto his tightly.

The boat crashed into the wall above the entrance just as Remus cast the Cushioning Charm to catch it.

* * *

Rose scrambled out of the boat, lifting Lily Luna and Hugo out with her tired arms and pushing them towards safety. The two of them joined hands and ran past Remus and Sirius, who were positioned just before the entrance. Albus and James Sirius followed soon after.

They were close, so close. Rose hadn't realized just how close the Inferi had gotten— within _grabbing distance_. The arm that swiped at her missed, and she shot a bolt of fire at it. The arm burned, melted, and turned to some disgusting substance she'd rather not think about. However, the arm was quickly replaced by another, and another. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she tried to buy time for the others to escape.

Snape was still dueling beside her, his teeth gritted as he covered her exposed side.

* * *

Remus, Sirius, Lily, and James were covering the entrance as the Hugo and the younger Potters ran past them out of the cave.

"Come on, Rose, Snape!" James shouted, fear trickling into his voice. "Get yourselves out! We'll cover you!"

* * *

Rose locked gazes with her companion, and the two of them turned to run towards the exit.

* * *

The pursuit was quick, and Rose didn't dare look back at the moaning creatures behind them as Snape took her hand in his and they _ran_.

His strides were longer than hers and it was hard to catch up—

She stumbled and then—

The clammy hand of death latched onto her forearm and she shrieked—

* * *

"_Sectumpsempra!_"

The arm fell _off _the body and with a sickening sound it hit the ground, causing the Inferi to trip and fall sideways.

Rose screamed again, even as Snape grabbed her wand arm and dragged her the last few feet to the exit— to safety.

* * *

Remus and Lily fired a combined fire spell into the mass of Inferi as Rose and Snape scrambled frantically through and collapsed onto the ground.

The rock magically sealed itself up again, as if nothing had happened.

Ten teenagers slumped on the floor in silence. The smell of Inferi still lingered in the air, and Rose closed her eyes and rubbed feverishly at the skin where the Inferi's dead hand had touched her.

"You okay?" Snape muttered under his breath from where he sat a foot away from her.

"Y-yeah. Thanks. For saving me."

* * *

"That was worse than NEWTs," Sirius complained loudly. "I've never been so exhausted in my entire life!"

* * *

AN: Action action action! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review! Even if you only want to leave a rating out of 10, that's good enough for me!

And for the next chapter, who actually wants Severus and Rose to have some kind of relationship? Leave a review with your ideas!


	8. The Weasley-Snape Arc (End&Aftermath)

AN: Ferrets~ PumpkinOwl38563 has given me a 'yes', so the Rose&Severus ship will indeed set sail. I already have the plot for how it shall work out, haha. :) This chappie is a bit slow compared to the last one, but then again, this is titled 'End&Aftermath'!

* * *

Outside the Horcrux Cave

"We are never, never, never, ever, doing that again," Harry said with conviction in his voice. They were all seated on the shore outside the cave, dipping their feet in the cool ocean water. The feeling of doom and terror had worn off, and they were back to their easy bantering.

"That was probably the stupidest thing we've ever done," James Sirius agreed, wiggling his toes.

"We brought a sword to the gun fight," Albus confirmed.

"You're all just lucky Severus thought fast enough to save everyone," Rose said smugly.

"Will you shut up about Snape already," James Sirius groaned, scrunching up his face in distaste. "We already know you fancy him, so just shut up! We just escaped from a lake full of Inferi! No one wants to hear about how much— how much you like him!" He finished, as if even he couldn't believe it.

Rose turned a million shades of red and looked about ready to murder her cousin. Her wand drawn in a flash, she took aim and fired.

* * *

"I'm sorry! _I'm sorry_! I'm—" There was a squelching sound as James Sirius vomited up another small ferret. The wet-furred creature scurried away from the shore they were currently seated at towards the woodlands.

"That spell is disgusting!" Lily exclaimed, looking ill. "Who on earth comes up with such a thing!"

"_Rose Weasley_," Albus and Hugo said together. "She altered it from the original slug-belching one."

"She comes up with spells all the time," James Sirius answered weakly, before another mini-ferret squirmed it's way up and out.

"This one was created especially for use on Scorpius Malfoy," Albus began. "Although, I don't see why. He's a pretty nice guy. Not like every single other Malfoy who ever graced this planet."

Snape watched the next ferret with amusement in his eyes, a bit impressed, even though the spell was rather disturbing and juvenile. "You're going to have to teach me that one later." He pictured James Potter puking ferrets in his mind's eye and smirked slightly.

Rose beamed, "I will." They would have time to talk about all sorts of academic things later on.

"I thought you liked _Scorpius_," James Sirius moaned. Lily Luna was holding a plastic bucket out in front of him now, probably trying to catch a ferret for a pet. Lily Luna patted his shoulder sympathetically. "I was only _joking_, Rose! What is it with you and _Slytherins_ anyways—" he was cut off abruptly by another ferret.

"I take offense to that statement," Albus said huffily, nudging his brother's shoulder.

"Here, ferret-ferret!" Lily Luna crooned to the frightened creature sitting in the plastic bucket. "Come on, I'll dry off James's yucky spit, and take good care of you ... !"

* * *

"Now what, Captain Al?" James Sirius asked Albus, having finally recovered from his violent illness.

"We don't know where the rest of them are. We'll have to get close to Voldemort to find out."

They all mulled over that for a bit.

"I was supposed to go for my Death-Eater initiation today," Snape said shortly, rubbing his thankfully bare left arm.

"You _were_?" Lily exclaimed. "But you're here with us—!"

"Exactly. I don't suppose I'll be able to go back anytime soon."

Rose shfited uncomfortably in her seat, avoiding everyone's gaze, as if she was trying to sink into the sand.

_I know that look,_ Harry thought, as he watched his niece bite down on her bottom lip. _That's the look Hermione always has on her face when—_

An owl flew by and dropped a letter into the hands of one Severus Snape. He fingered the insanely decorative seal in the front.

"Who's it from?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

* * *

"_Severus._

_You fled your initation._

_The Dark Lord does not forgive easily._

_If you return now, you may yet be forgiven, however._

_I advise you to return immediately._

_He still has use for you._

_Lucius Malfoy_."

The script was elegant, and the thick parchment reeked of snobby rich people.

"You can't be serious," Albus groaned, leaning back onto his hands.

"He's not," Sirius answered, smirking. "I am."

Harry eyed Rose, who was now eyeing the letter with trepidation. She fiddled with the hem of her robes, obviously struggling internally with something.

"Spit it out."

Rose flinched and looked up, "What?"

"You've thought of something, I can tell. Hermione looks like that all the time. Whatever it is just say it."

"I— it's a bad idea. Really. It won't work."

"Just tell him," Snape said, scrunching up the letter and burning it with his wand, not looking up.

"He could spy again," Rose said quickly. "But it's a really bad idea that we shouldn't use at all!"

"There's still one more Horcrux we can get by ourselves." Harry broke the awkward pause. "The ring from the Gaunt House."

Albus took a deep breath. "The letter says to go right away—"

"It makes no sense for him to spy at all! Does you even know Occlumency?" Rose exclaimed vehemently whirled on Snape, who blanched at the expression on her face.

"It was your idea," James Sirius muttered.

"It's dangerous, he won't have enough time to get the information we need, he shouldn't have to become a Death Eater because of your poor planning ... need I go on?" Rose finished listing the various reasons on her fingers. "It was just an idea, that's it! It doesn't mean we should go through with it."

"I do know Occlumency," Snape answered, now amused at the redhead's outspokenness. Really, she was reminding him of ... well, the other redhead on the sand with them. Rose, however, was definitely more argumentative with her Potter siblings than Lily had ever been with the Marauders. "But not to a level that I would be able to oppose the Dark Lord."

"Scratch the idea, then. We'll just have to capture some Death Eaters and get it out of them, maybe," Harry suggested. "How about the Lestranges, since you said they end up with the Cup to begin with. We might need to enlist the help of the Order."

Rose relaxed her defensive posture. "They won't be happy, though. Messing with time and all."

"Right, I momentarily forgot what a harebrained scheme this was," said Harry sarcastically.

"Well, we don't have to tell them what we're up to, necessarily. Just that the cup is a powerful object we need to remove from Voldemort's ownership," Albus suggested. "They'll find it for us."

"That might take a while, though," Rose responded.

"Time is something you have, you can just travel forwards again, can't you?" Snape asked.

"Then we'd have to explain everything to you again! After we leave you memories are wiped," James Sirius said.

Snape swore several times in succession and glared at them all. "So after you leave, I'll be wondering why the hell I missed my Death Eater meeting, _and_ why I'm surrounded by_ this lot_?" He gestured angrily towards the Marauders. "That was not on the list of cons when I signed up for this. You can't expect me to go back to ... to _him_. I won't."

"We won't. We'll find a way to do this. We won't be going forwards in time until this is solved," Rose said firmly, leaving no room for argument. She was not going to abandon her hero to the darkness.

* * *

Picnic things had been pulled out of Rose's magically expanded bag, and they sat there munching food courtesy of the Potter House-Elves. Bottles of Butterbeer had been passed about, and they relaxed on the beach where a young Tom Riddle had once walked upon all those years ago.

"Should have brought Firewhiskey," Sirius commented idly, swishing the golden-brown contents of his drink around in his bottle before taking a large swig.

"We're still minors," Rose said absently, flicking the lid off of hers.

"Doesn't hurt to have a drink every once and a while." James winked at her.

"I'd fancy a Firewhiskey," James Sirius announced dramatically. "We should get some after we fetch the next Horcrux."

"We haven't even finished off this one yet." Lily Luna prodded the locket with her silver rod, which was sitting on the sand inbetween them all.

Snape had refused the offer of Butterbeer, even though James Potter had swore to Merlin that he hadn't tried to poison it or anything, in order to try and get him to have one.

"Harry, you're going to have to open it, remember?"

"Right, Al. It might take a few goes at it to get the Parseltongue right, though. I mean, opening the Chamber of Secrets took a while."

"You speak Parseltongue?" Snape asked in surprise without thinking. He was currently fiddling with his wand as he stared at the locket. "_You're_ the heir of Slytherin! _You_ found the Chamber of Secrets?"

"I'm not," Harry answered dully, "Voldemort is," he tapped the scar on his forehead. "Weren't you there when Al was explaining everything?"

"Well, excuse me if I was a bit preoccupied at the moment. I suppose it wasn't surprising for you to find out that you died a martyred death, but for me it kind of was!" Snape replied scathingly.

James opened his mouth to retort, his brow furrowing in anger, but was promptly shut up by a look from his fianceé.

Rose dug around in her bag for a few moments and retrieved the Basilisk fang they had used on the tiara. It was carefully encased in a holder so it wouldn't poison anyone or anything by mistake. The fang had been stolen from Hermione, who had kept the fang suspended in a magical case as a souvenir from the war. The three hours it had taken for Rose to break the wards was worth it, since now they had a way to destroy all of the Horcruxes without the use of dangerous methods like Fiendfyre.

"Who wants the honor?" Hugo asked rhetorically, reaching for it eagerly. "I do! Sounds like a great plan, huh?"

Yanking the fang away from both Rose and Hugo, Harry held it out to Snape. "You saved our hides back there, so you do it."

Cautiously, Snape accepted it, examining the Transfigured holster before unbuckling it and removing the fang, gripping the base tightly.

"After Harry opens it, just stab the locket. It's going to put up a fight, it's one of the more powerful pieces of soul. Ignore it, and make sure you react right away. It's probably best for you to do so anyways, you're a better Occlumens than any of us, I think."

* * *

"_Opennn—_"

* * *

The swirling face of Lily Evans exuded from the locket. Red-haired and green-eyed in all her glory, she rose from the confines of Slytherin's locket.

She smiled at him, "_Severus._"

The grip on the fang in his hand slackened slightly.

Lily. Merlin, _Lily_, she looked prettier than he had ever seen her before ...

She was smiling at him; holding out a hand to him.

Panic stole over momentarily, but was replaced by an odd calmness.

* * *

"What're you doing?! Stab it!" Remus yelled.

Harry, who was watching Snape stare blankly at the locket, understood immediately.

"He can't hear us. Or see us. He's seeing what the locket wants him to see."

* * *

"_You don't need them. You only need me, don't you, Severus?_"

He nodded minutely.

"_That's right,_" the image of Lily crooned, beckoning to him with a pale finger, "_you want me. Now, what would you do for me, Severus?_"

"Anything," he croaked. "Lily, I'm so sorry for calling you a M—"

"_Hush. I know. You want to prove your loyalty to, don't you? Well, it's simple. All you have to do_," the image paused for a moment, "_is kill the time-travelers. The Potters— and the Weasleys. Simple, isn't it? Do this for me, Severus, and I'll be yours. All yours._"

Tempting, tempting, tempting. Snape's gaze broke away from Riddle-Lily's gaze as he watched the faces of the Potter family.

Harry Potter. Who looked exactly like his father. He wouldn't be to hard to kill, would he? Albus Potter. Much the same as the previous Potter. James Sirius Potter. Hugo Weasley. Lily Luna Potter.

He pictured their bodies littering the sandy beach. Easy, too easy. To kill them all and Apparate back to his home at Spinner's End with Lily by his side.

Snape's searching eyes met the face of Rose Weasley, who was staring at him in apparent concern and worry. She worried her bottom lip and looked as if she wanted to fling herself at him. His eyes traced her lips, her flaming red hair, her wide brown eyes.

Too easy.

* * *

He took a step towards Rose, raising the Basilisk fang upwards towards the clear sky.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

* * *

"What'd'you think you're doing?!" James Sirius bellowed, lurching forwards. Harry grabbed him, wrapping his arms around his son's waist and yanking him back.

"Leave it! Leave it." Snape would have to face whatever was in the locket, they could always cast a Shield Charm in front of Rose if necessary. Harry had a sinking feeling in his gut that what Snape was seeing had something to do with his mother.

* * *

"_Yes, that's right. You don't need her. Kill her, Severus._"

Riddle-Lily's voice saying his name was like a balm on the wounds she had inflicted the day she had cut off their friendship.

Too easy.

Another step.

* * *

Spinning back around, his arm came down blindingly fast, the fang piercing the locket like a hatchet. Riddle-Lily screeched and now everyone could hear the sound, even if they couldn't see her. Even though they were in open air, the sound reverberated through it. Lily Luna clutched at her ears, whimpering.

Panting heavily, Snape stumbled backwards a few steps, dropping the white tooth onto the sand. He fell to his knees a few steps in front of Rose, still staring at the smoking necklace.

"It wasn't real," Rose whispered, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. Snape flinched, but did not shake it off. "Whatever it was, it wasn't real."

He took a final, shuddering breath and Rose knelt down beside him.

"I know," he replied, knowing far too well that what the locket had promised him would never come to pass. "And for once, that's alright with me."

Snape's hand fumbled and entwined with hers as he closed his eyes. Rose heard the ocean air whistling through her hair and her ears, but only vaguely as her hand registered the contact.

"Let's go," she affirmed when she was able to speak.

Without a word, those who were of age paired off with those who weren't, and they all Apparated back to the Potter home.

* * *

AN; Now wasn't that cute? There's a bit of closure for Severus, although I don't think much will be going on between them for a while, since he's still coming to terms with what happened. Hint of what's to come: it's in year 2020, people. ;)

And yay for reviews! The fluffy plot bunnies thank you very much!


	9. Interlude: The Golden Trio (and Ginny!)

AN: Time to call in the Hufflepuffs! The kids are missing! We need to FIND them! There are some parallels here, so make sure you know your chapters as Mr. and Mrs. Potter track their kiddies.

* * *

The Weasley Home - 2020

"What does she mean, _they're gone_?" Hermione Jean Weasley said in a quiet tone. Ronald Bilius Weasley recognized his wife's danger-tone easily, and noted that if he wasn't careful he might be puking ferrets in a few moments.

"Well, you know McGonagall, she wouldn't notify us if it wasn't serious, but I'm sure it's not that big of a deal! They might just be in the Room of Requirement, you know, keeping everyone from getting in. Tricky, that room is." Ron tried to soothe her, "It might just be another prank. You know how James and Al are—"

"I know they're always getting our kids into trouble, Ron! That's what! Honestly," she went on, wringing her hands, "we should get out there right now. You could take us, Ron, you have the Auror status to do it—"

"It's not supposed to be used for checking up on our kids!" Ron wheedled. It was supposed to be his day off, for Merlin's sake, he didn't want to go chasing his kids across Hogwarts. "It's used for Auror work only!"

"Yes," Hermione replied, not shaken in the slightest, "and when five teenagers go missing, it becomes _'Auror work'_!" She grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe and dragged him towards their fireplace. "Floo to Hogwarts, now please."

* * *

The Potter Home

Ginny Potter was staring in horror at the Floo, where the head of Minerva McGonagall had been only moments earlier. Missing? Oh, Albus and James were going to be in some serious trouble ... right after she murdered them, of course. Her sons were forever causing disaster and mayhem at Hogwarts since their male role models happened to be the Marauders and the Weasley twins, but they'd never gone as far as to go missing! Not to mention Hermione and Ron's kids were missing with them! Hermione was probably going insane with over-protective-mum syndrome. Not that Ginny wasn't as well, but Hermione's case of it was undoubtedly worse.

Time to check in with Harry and see what he thought about all of this.

* * *

The Auror Department

Harry James Potter absently rubbed at the scar on his forehead. Five missing teenagers. _His_ five missing teenagers. Or, his, Ginny's, Hermione's and Ron's, at any rate. The intern in front of his desk shifted nervously from foot to foot. He'd been the one to deliver the bad news, and well, no one wanted to deliver bad news to the Boy-Who-Won, or whatever it was they were calling him these days.

"You can go," Harry sighed. Starting from this morning he'd been getting these awful headaches, and no amount of Headache-Relief Potion seemed to be enough to get rid of them. "Tell Kingsley I'm going to be out the rest of the day. I'm not feeling very well, and I want to resolve this matter about my kids." The Auror Office could do one day with him, after all. He wasn't even the one in charge, he was still staffed underneath a few high ranking Aurors. Hopefully after the kids were safe and sound these Merlin-awful headaches would vanish.

"Yes, sir!" The intern gave him an awkward salute and left the office, closing the door behind him.

The letter arrived only a few moments after, fluttering into the room and landing on his messy desk.

_"Harry,_

_I'm sure Minerva told you about the situation at Hogwarts. Please come home._

_Love, Ginny."_

* * *

The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

"We've managed to enter the Room of Requirement, thanks to Neville's help. There were a number of books scattered about the place, so you'll just have to go through them and see what they were up to," Minerva McGonagall looked at her former students, who were now each in their own successful careers, and felt a twinge of pride. "I trust you'll get to the heart of this matter much faster than I will."

"Thanks, Minerva," Hermione murmured, placing a hand on the older witch's shoulder. "We'll take it from here."

Ron strode over to a table a picked up a book at random. "Well, the rest of us are going to be useless, from the looks of it. I don't read Latin, do you, Harry?"

Ginny sat down on Lily Luna's beanbag chair, and Harry followed her over, sitting down on the ruby-red armchair. "There are some English books over here, Ron." Harry picked one up off the floor.

Hermione had already moved onto another stack of books, and was thumbing quickly through the table of contents, tossing the books onto a pile in the armchair when she was done with them. It was the closest to which Harry had ever seen Hermione treat a book with disrespect.

"Nevermind that," Hermione squealed after a few minutes, her eyes rapidly scanning the book she was holding, the one that had been sitting next to Rose's chair. She knelt down and traced the scribbled runes on the ground with her finger. "I've found out what they've done! Oooh, when they get back they are so going to be grounded for life!"

* * *

The book apparently (again, Hermione was the only one of them who could read Latin,) stated that with certain powerful families there existed a way to alter time itself. Another book (this time in some other language that Harry, Ron, and Ginny couldn't even begin to pronounce,) spoke of the tale of the three brothers. When Ignotus Peverell had died, he had, along with the Invisiblity Cloak, _invented_ a way to safely transport wizards and witches through time without the use of time-turners. It involved magical blood linking members of the Peverell line together.

That wasn't the important part, however. The important part was how it was done, and which wizards and witches would be able to use this method.

"So, let me repeat that, and you can tell me if I'm right," Harry said, still rubbing his forehead in an effort to think around the throbbing in his brain. "Since I'm related to Ignotus Peverell, it means I can travel through time, and alter time, even though it defies the laws of Time-Turners?"

"Essentially, yes," Hermione answered, "which means Ron and I can't even go with you to get them! This is terrible! Harry, you can't go by yourself!"

"So I _can_ go, can't I?" Ginny remarked, "Since I'm his wife. Magical marriages bond differently than Muggle ones do."

"You, Mrs. Potter, are recovering from your Quidditch injury. You're not going anywhere," Harry pointed out.

"Oh, come off it, I'm fine. Nothing a good adventure won't fix," she winked at her husband, who relented, smiling slightly.

"We should be able to get a good lock on their location, since they're already there and we have the runes they used. Once you're there, just establish whether or not they've left by using this spell— '_familia revellio_'. Looking at Rose's notes, they'll either be in our third year, your father's third year, or your father's seventh year, when he graduates. We'll just have to hope they haven't altered too much already! The second they leave a moment in time and go forwards or backwards to another, it seals in whatever they've done. If they have, you'll have to find a way to fix it ... oooh, why can't I go with you?!" Hermione exclaimed vehemently. Not that she didn't trust Harry and Ginny to do the right thing, but would they do the smart thing?

* * *

The Hospital Wing - 1995

"Merlin's pants!" Hermione Jean Granger shrieked as two more figures revealed themselves, only moments after the previous group had left for the Great Hall.

"Sorry, Hermione!" A tall man with black, messy hair straightened his Auror robes. "We're in a bit of a rush."

"Have you seen the kids? We've got to find them!" The redheaded woman next to him questioned, tugging on what looked like a pair of expensive Quidditch gloves.

"_Harry_?" Young Hermione's mouth dropped open. "But you just— you just left with—!"

Young Ron stared at the redhead. "_Ginny_? But you're only— blimey!"

"We've time-traveled back to find them and bring them home," Harry insisted, striding up to his best friend. "Where've they gone?"

"Great Hall," Ron croaked, pointing towards it's general direction.

Harry and Ginny Potter donned the Invisibility Cloak and bolted out the Hospital doors without another word.

"They ... they ..." Ron looked at Hermione. "They're ..."

"Married!" Hermione yelped happily. "So it is true! Isn't that wonderful? And that means you and I—"

Ron promptly fainted back onto his bedsheets, leaving behind a rather disgruntled Hermione. Obviously he'd been hoping this whole thing was some kind of elaborate prank.

"Honestly, _boys,_" Hermione rolled her eyes.

* * *

The Great Hall

"Crap," Ginny looked down at the new set of runes on the floor in front of the entrance to the Great Hall. "We must have just missed them, the ink looks pretty fresh."

"I'm going to kill James and Al if anything happened ... " Harry sighed, rubbing his fingertips on his temples.

"Is something wrong?" Ginny asked worriedly, "You've been doing that a lot. Do you need a Headache-Relief Potion?"

"Tried it already this morning," he answered through gritted teeth. "I think it's a side affect of the time-travel. Since they took me with them, I mean. The 13 year-old me."

"Can you see what they're doing?"

"I—maybe. I'll drop my Occlumency shields." After the fall of Voldemort, Harry had made Occlumency a high priority to learn, especially if he was going to become an Auror. Seeing as he had been taught by an actual instructor (Kingsley, who was forever grateful to Harry for his support during his run for Minister,) it had ended quite well, and now Harry could put up adequate shields to protect his mind.

Concentrating, Harry pictured the careful wall he had constructed and then began to dismantle it. As soon as the first crack was made, however, Harry was instantly assaulted with images. He cried out, clutching his head and tumbling out of the Cloak as the memories blurred past. This was most similar to the regular pains he had had when Voldemort had been feeling strong emotions.

Panicked, Ginny quickly cast _Muffliato_ on the door. "Harry?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Fine," he muttered, still sitting on the ground. "It stopped— they're in my dad's seventh year. They're hunting Horcruxes. They've got Snape with them and they've— they've just destroyed—" Harry squinted, as though trying to see something, "the locket."

"Great," she said, still concerned, "let's get them and go home."

"It's not that simple, Gin. We still have to fix things. They already destroyed the Diadem, too. Imagine how that's going to screw with the timeline. It's like what Hermione said, things will turn out differently. We might not ever meet or marry, Ginny."

"Well, bugger," Ginny groaned, "let's go to the next time period and check the Room of Requirement then. Why didn't you mention this when we were there?"

* * *

The Great Hall - 1970

Disoriented, Ginny grabbed her husband's arm and stood them both up, even as Harry swayed back and forth a few times. Time-travel hadn't been nearly as puke-inducing when he had been using a Time-Turner. Yanking out her wand, Ginny spoke in a clear tone, "_Familia revellio._" There was no spark or glow, so Ginny stowed her wand back into the holster attached to her hip.

"Just checking," she explained to a still sickly-looking Harry. "They might have come back for some reason."

"Right," Harry straightened with obvious effort. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with."

* * *

AN: Sorry this chap was posted a week later, I got sick and had a lot of school stuff to do. That last chapter was pretty long, however, so it all balances out in the end.


	10. The Prankster-GAWD Arc i

AN: Terrible case of writer's block has been dropped upon my muse. Whoo. :( I hope you all enjoy this chapter anyways!

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter - 1999

The plans were laid out carefully on the large table. Albus and James Sirius had deftly maneuvered Snape into sitting between them, even though he'd tried to sit himself next to Rose. When their cousin Rose glared at them suspiciously in return, the two boys simply grinned and waved at her. Similarily, Hugo had planted himself inbetween the Marauders on the opposite end of the table, and was currently peppering them with questions about their pranking. Lily and Lily Luna were sandwiching Harry between them. Overall, this meant that no actual work was getting done.

"Focus!" Harry found himself saying over and over, but it didn't seem like anyone was listening except for Rose, who was in the middle of scribbling down the list of Horcruxes.

_Cup -_  
_Diadem - destroyed._  
_Diary -_  
_Locket - destroyed_  
_Ring -_

"Hmmph." Rose stuck her quill behind her ear.

Exasperated, Harry stood up, ignoring Lily Luna's half-hearted protests, and went to sit next to Rose. "Since you're actually doing some work," he began, "d'you mind filling me in on what we're going to do at the Gaunt House when we get there?"

"It would take me ages to break down all the wards myself, so we're going to have to rope the older lot into helping. Probably Lily and Remus—"

"—And Snape?" Harry grinned slightly at her.

"Right," Rose said primly, refusing to blush. "Anyways, we'll need to get a hold of some pretty advanced ward-breaking books, so we might need to browse James or Sirius's libraries. As Purebloods they'll be bound to have more books on the subject."

"Sounds good," Harry mumbled. The library wasn't really his forté.

* * *

They ended up splitting into two groups: Team Pranksters and Team Get-Actual-Work-Done. Of course they didn't verbally call themselves that, but it was rather unspoken in Remus' opinion.

Team Pranksters was composed of James, Sirius, James Sirius, Albus, Hugo and Lily Luna.

Team G.A.W.D. was composed of Remus, Lily, Harry, Rose, Snape.

Despite the divide in ranks, Remus was sure that they'd be able to get something done. After all, half of them were intent on 'getting actual work done'. Rose and Lily had carefully repacked the supplies into two even groups. The new idea (which Harry had suggested) was that his group begin work on the Gaunt House wards while the other group began searching for the remaining Horcruxes. The Cup and Diary had yet to be found, after all. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't very confident in his father's ability to remain focused on the task at hand, even with Albus trying to lead the group.

"Okay, so we'll see you all in two hours? Are we agreed?" Lily asked the group of boys, who were giving her startlingly similar grins and nods.

"Yeup!" Hugo exclaimed.

* * *

The Pettigrew Home

Lucius Malfoy stared disdainfully at the short, wispy-haired witch in front of him who was staring back in open-mouthed shock.

"P-peter?"

"Yes," he sighed. "Your son? _Peter Pettigrew_? He lives here?"

There was a thump as the body of a middle-aged, over-weight woman hit the floor.

Lucius Malfoy straightened his robes before pulling out his wand. "_Renervate._"

* * *

"Peter! Your friend Mr. Malfoy is here to see you!" Peter's mother's voice called from downstairs.

There was a thump as the body of a teenaged, over-weight boy hit the floor.

* * *

"Honestly," muttered Lucius, now faced with the two unconscious bodies on the floor. He'd had to Obliviate Pettigrew's mother in case she remembered him dropping by, which was an anomaly in itself, as well as levitate the boy's body down the steps. Now all he had to do was deliver Pettigrew to the Dark Lord, as he had been instructed to do. His mind was still a bit confused, the Imperius had left a strange kind of soupy feeling in his brain. However the fear of the Dark Lord's wrath overpowered any other thoughts.

He cast the Levitation Charm on Pettigrew's limp form once more, and Apparated swiftly away.

* * *

An Unknown Location

Silently, Malfoy was rather glad that the Dark Lord had decided to move his meetings out of his house. The blood stains on persian rugs were extremely hard to wash out - even with magic. On a completely different note, Lucius shouldn't have really been keeping such nice things in the basement anyways. After all, it was just a basement.

There was a terrified scuffling sound from the middle of the room, followed by a high, cold laugh.

"It would seem our little friend is awake."

Lucius, who was wearing his Death Eater mask, gave the huddled form an evil smile. Really, this is the fun part. Scaring Muggles and Squibs and little wizards like Pettigrew half to death, that is.

"Dismissed." Malfoy looked up to make sure he had heard right, only for a moment, before scuttling out of the room. There was no point asking for confirmation, if he hesitated he would be Crucio'ed anyways.

* * *

Picking through the rat's mind was easy enough. There were absolutely no defenses, not even the natural ones that some wizards managed to develop in their youth. Pettigrew's mind was an open book, ready for Lord Voldemort's perusal.

There were flashes of memory from early school days, which he pushed past until he found what he was looking for.

_"We want you," the dark-haired boy intoned, before pausing dramatically, "to make an Unbreakable Vow."_

_"An Unbreakable Vow?"_

_Another almost identical boy turned around to face Pettigrew._

_"Yes," he said in a hoarse whisper, "we are Seers, Peter Pettigrew, and our jobs is to change and our job is to change the future!"_

_"So you're not James at all," Peter said, shaking._

_"We have assumed the form of the one you must protect," said the third boy._

_"P-protect James?"_

_"Yes!" exclaimed the first one, "Protect James Potter, protect his family!"_

_"Give me your left arm," the second said, holding out a hand._

_Pettigrew offered his trembling forearm, and the doppelganger pushed up the sleeve of the Gryffindor's robe, smirking. There was the sound of an uncorking bottle and the dipping of an eagle-feather quill in ink. It was hard to make out what was happening in the dim light, but to Voldemort it looked almost like—_

_"Let that serve as a reminder!" boomed the one who had administered the juvenile tattoo._

_The third boy, he noticed, had turned around to face the wall and bite down on his knuckles in a futile attempt to keep from laughing._

_"Now onto the Vow!" The first exclaimed._

Pettigrew's screams echoed around the Room just as the scene shifted ...

_The first boy and Pettigrew were kneeling on the ground in the Room, holding hands, with the second boy standing above them. It was the traditionally position for making the Unbreakable Vow._

Voldemort had to admit he was a bit impressed with the fact that these teenagers (if they were, in fact, teenagers) could cast a spell as powerful as an Unbreakable Vow.

_"Will you, Peter Pettigrew, watch over James Potter and his family for the rest of your life?" The first boy questioned. The second boy, the Bonder, was casting the spell, and there were tendrils of magic creeping around the entwined pair of hands. Pettigrew looked about ready to wet himself again._

_"I- I'll try!"_

_"You must say, 'I will, or anything to that degree, Pettigrew," the second boy insisted. "Or the spell doesn't bind."_

_"I will!"_

_"Will you, Peter Pettigrew, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?"_

_"I w-will."_

_"Do you promise to never betray him intentionally?"_

_"I will never betray him intentionally." Pettigrew's voice was a bit steadier. He is a coward, yes, but so far the terms go with what the doppelgangers have been telling him they want. It will be hard, though, to protect James Potter when Peter is not the stronger wizard, when he is the weaker one who cowers beneath the popularity and power of his friends._

_There was a pause as the first boy took a quiet breath. "Do you promise to never take the Dark Mark and to never support Lord Voldemort?"_

_"I will never take the Dark Mark," Pettigrew parroted with widened eyes. "I will never support You-Know-Who."_

_The magic sealed itself in a flash of light, and the memory faded out again._

It was all Voldemort needed to see.

Thinking over the matter, he began to quickly draw a number of conclusions. These doppelgangers were working against him, as he had suspected. These dopplegangers were out to protect James Potter from him, that much was also obvious. These doppelgangers claimed to be Seers, but anyone who knew anything about Divination (Voldemort had made it a point to study anything of note, and at the time the Divination Professor had been competent) knew that the Seers never remembered their own prophesies, and that the prophesies were always too cryptic to comprehend quickly.

The question was why had they been expecting Pettigrew to betray Potter if they were not Seers? There was no reason, really, to suspect the snivelling boy who only ever trailed behind the robes or greater wizards. For some reason they had expected Pettigrew to defect ... to him, Voldemort. Which made sense to any fool with half a brain, even Pettigrew, and no ridiculous Gryffindor tendencies, of course.

They had expected Pettigrew to defect to Lord Voldemort and betray James Potter.

They had _expected_ ...

They had ...

They had _known_ ...

They had known the future.

Tom Riddle's right hand found and pressed against the Dark Mark on his left forearm roughly.

* * *

From the room outside, Lucius Malfoy felt a searing pain in his left arm. One confused thought made it's way into his muddled mind.

_The Dark Lord had called a Death Eater meeting because of Pettigrew?_

* * *

AN: Updates will be more irregular now as I study for my midterm and whatnot, but you can check my **Author Profile** for updates on how far along the chapters are! Thanks for sticking with me, guys! C:


	11. The Prankster-GAWD Arc ii

AN: Sorry for neglecting this, but I have been having a really hard time with my muse for this story ... suggestions would be loved and met with hugs from Lily-Luna and her pet ferret.

* * *

The Gaunt House

Rose picked idly at the tent floor she was sitting on, a book balanced in her other hand. They'd worked all afternoon on breaking down the Gaunt House wards, and it seemed it was going to take much longer than she wanted it to. Even with all of them working at it, they weren't nearly as coordinated as professional ward breakers like Uncle Bill. They'd managed to figure out what they were dealing with, and were now in the midst of sorting through a number of books they'd 'borrowed' from James and Sirius's libraries.

Remus, who was leaning against his pack, was skimming his way through another book. If he had thought he was lucky to find three people who had accepted him as a werewolf, he wasn't sure what he thought now that a large group of Potters and Weasleys were eagerly accepting him as family. Every so often he would glance up to meet the down-turned heads of Rose, Lily, Snape and Harry, each absorbed in their own respect book. Harry seemed to be having the roughest time of it, which made sense as he was most likely the youngest out of all of them, having never studied for OWLs or NEWTs before.

Harry was constantly shifting positions, much to Snape's annoyance. The prat was continually moving about, tapping his wand on his leg or scrapping his chair against the floor. Bloody annoying. Snape had his knees curled up, and was leaning against one of the bunk near Rose and Lily. He still wasn't wholy comfortable with the situation he was now in, but he had to admit it was a nice feeling to be included, even if the Marauders were involved. Even so, he was glad that the laziest of the bunch were off on their own wild goose chase. Remus, Snape grudgingly conceded,, would be working hard.

Lily was sitting a few paces away from Rose. She genuinely liked Rose, who seemed responsible and mature beyond her years. She liked Harry, too, of course, but it was very awkward, to say the least, interacting with your future son and trying to suppress all the odd motherly instincts that kept popping up (she swore she'd never felt like this before). The book she was reading was utterly insipid, unfortunately, and it was hard to keep her attention on it.

Harry was idly flipping through pages in his own book. He'd grown bored after the first few chapters — honestly, how did Hermione manage all her books, he wondered - and started thinking about the friends he'd left behind. Ron: still in his injured state, Hermione: emotionally and physically exhausted. Not that he was feeling any better, after all the time travel was said and done - travelling back in time to save his Godfather, travelling back in time again to save everyone in general - staying up for nearly 24 hours was not sounding nearly as fun as other people made all-nighters out to be.

Yawning, he stretched. "I think it's time for bed. Way past time for some sleep." Bleary eyed, Rose nodded in agreement.

"We've been up for Merlin-knows-how-long," she mumbled, feeling a bit silly since it was still only late afternoon. "You can all keep going if you want, but Harry and I need some shut-eye."

Lily nodded emphatically, taking in their tired eyes and Harry's ever-disheveled hair. "Alright. Night to you both, then."

Rose yanked out a handkerchief from her pocket and Transfigured it into a large tarp to hang in between the sleeping bags and bunkbeds before casting a number of Charms to ensure that no unwanted noises would filter through. Harry closed it book shut rather roughly (it whined at him, but everyone ignored it) and dragged himself over to a bunk just as Rose pulled the new make-shift curtain shut.

Sleep sounded pretty good to him right about now.

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter - 1999

"So I was thinking, what would happen if we combined Fizzing Whizbees with Everlasting Elixirs? Would the flying effect just last forever, or what? I mean, imagine play Quidditch - without broomsticks! No one's been able to fly since the Dark Lord and his major followers were killed. Evidently, the skill died with Snape," James Sirius prattled on, much to Albus' interest and annoyance.

"I wonder," Lily Luna began, cutting her cousin off, "if there's a way to see Thestrals now that I've seen those Inferi."

"This," Albus began through gritted teeth, "is why we're not going to get any work done! We're supposed to be tracking down Horcruxes, not testing random hypotheses!"

"Exactly!" James said, "We've got more important things to do!"

Sirius stared at James for a few moments. "You've got to be kidding me. You can't be serious."

"We're supposed to find the Horcruxes!" Hugo agreed with his idol eagerly.

"Let's make a list," Albus said, satisfied. "We can start with all the places Voldemort's been to that we know of and rule them out from there."

"We can add Hogwarts to the list for starters," Sirius added unhelpfully.

"Right," Lily Luna nodded, "and the Hogwarts Express, and the grounds, and the Shrieking Shack, and —"

* * *

The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - 1970

"Hold on," Ginny said, catching Harry's sleeve. The two of them had just left the Room of Requirement after discovering the remains of the Diadem, and were now headed working out the runes Rose had evidently left behind in the Great Hall (again). "What about the Diadem? Shouldn't we do something about that? They've obviously already locked it into the timeline, but we can still replace it with, I don't know, a duplicate?"

Harry considered this. "That's probably a very good idea. How much time, exactly, have you been spending with Hermione?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Come on, Boy Wonder, let's go to the Ravenclaw tower and get a good look at it. I'll Transfigure a copy. We'll leave give it some special effects and leave it for future-you to find."

"It's Mr. Boy Wonder to you, Mrs. Wonder," Harry bit back, grinning. "I know I married you for some reason." They crossed the Hall and made their way down a corridor.

"Probably because I was the only girl who didn't drool on your robes."

"You were practically the only girl who ever drooled on my robes."

"_Touche_."

* * *

The Weasley Home - 2020

"Wait hold on," Ron said, brow creased. "If Al and James can take Rose and Hugo with them, why couldn't Harry and Ginny take us?"

"Because, time is strained enough without adding two more people to it."

"Why does Ginny even get to go? I could have gone instead!"

"Ginny is rather a lot more sensible then you are, and she'll keep Harry in check," Hermione added pointedly.

"I take offense to that," Ron retorted, "We've been married for so long, don't you trust me?"

"I only said she was more sensible, I never said I didn't trust you," Hermione answered.

"It was implied. Goodness knows Ginny spent more time mooning after Harry than I ever did with any girl."

Hermione coughed loudly, "_Lavender Brown_."

"_Touche_."

* * *

AN: I'll try and make updates more regular from now on, but I'm working on three different fics so this will be slow. Sorry for the short chapter, as well. Thanks for your continued support and patience. :D


	12. The Prankster-GAWD Arc iii

**AN: I'm really sorry, but I can tell you my inspiration for this story was literally at zero for the longest time.**

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter - 1999

"Hey, listen up, I think we've got it!" James crowed, waving a piece of parchment frantically in the air. "Where he's left the Horcrux, or, at least, a place where Harry hadn't checked before. How does Merope Gaunt's grave sound to you?"

Hugo made a face. "Do we even know where that is?"

"We should be able to track it," Albus said thoughtfully. "We did bring You-Know-Who's diadem Horcrux with us - we should be able to use it to find the others, now that I think about it. And didn't Rose once say that similar magic leaves similar traces? Dumbledore once mentioned to Da- _Harry_ that he recognized Voldemort's style."

"So, in theory, we're just wasting our time here?" James Sirius deadpanned.

Sirius threw his hands up in exasperation. "Well, why don't we do that already!"

"Okay," Albus said hastily. "Hold on, I'll find the book." He pulled out his rucksack and proceeded to remove book after book, each volume thicker than the last.

"He only says he's a Slytherin," muttered James Sirius, and Hugo nodded solemnly in agreement, rubbing his eyes.

Albus yawned, setting a book onto the table. "Firstly though, I think some of us need a nap. You guys can look through this, us time-travellers need a break."

The three boys left the room quietly, Hugo rubbing his eyes with his fists along the way.

James and Sirius were left alone at the table, staring at the monstrous book sitting atop the table, eyes wide.

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Sirius whispered.

"I say if we don't understand the table of contents we give up," James offered weakly.

"I already don't understand the title! What'd you think the odds of us getting the actual content is!?" Sirius exclaimed, slamming an open palm on the table with a thump.

Two pair dissolved into silence for a moment. Finally, James sighed and straightened his shoulders decisively. "I know what we can do."

Sirius looked up, grey eyes blinking and confused. "What?"

"We can go take a nap."

* * *

An Unknown Location

"A disturbance, my Lord?" echoed one of the masked followers. They were standing in the basement, which Lord Voldemort had thoughtfully enlarged to hold their numbers. All in all, around 50 people were crowded in a circle around their master, trying not to look to long at the tied boy in the middle of the room.

"Yes," You-Know-Who hissed in return, annoyance flickering in his tone, "anywhere. It doesn't matter where. Just keep everyone busy and everyone away from me."

"A-away from you, my Lord," Malfoy repeated, blinking dumbly. "So we should - we should know the approximate area of which you will be heading to?"

"No. That is completely besides the point. Lestranges, you are to come with me, and you as well, Malfoy." Voldemort did not look up or gesture to any of them, he was still watching the mumbling, sleep-incoherent form of Peter Pettigrew. "Everyone else go to cause mayhem elsewhere. If you get caught," his dark gaze turned even colder, and the temperature of the room dropped several degrees, "you need not ask the consequences."

There was a shuffle as everyone attempted to Apparate away first. A few of the stupider Death Eaters would find themselves Splinched in their hurry to leave, which would cause disturbance enough, especially as the Ministry was continually called in to sort it out.

* * *

The Gaunt House

Harry and Rose were still sleeping when the sounds of Apparation woke them up.

"Merlin's pants," Rose muttered, as she stumbled up violent. "Guys, we've got to get out! Guys!" She shoved a bleary-eyed Harry off his bunk. "Up! NOW! The Death Eaters or someone else is here, and we have to clear out now!" Throwing aside the curtain, she saw Lily shaking Remus awake, and a very alert Snape throwing books into Rose's bag.

Upon her entry, he looked up at her, and seemed to be about to say something when there was an audible snap. Rose clamped and hand over Harry's mouth to prevent him from talking and made a frantic shushing gesture at the graduates. Snape got it right away, his mouth snapped shut. Lily looked as if she wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Rose glanced around in panic - the Muffliato charms had fallen, along with Merlin-knew-what-else, and they had to get out -

Harry was unravelling his cloak to throw over them all, but it wouldn't be enough, no, and You-Know-Who would have already cast Anti-Apparation charms by now -

Rose scrambled to yank out the emergency Blanket out to drape over them and managed to communicate the need to squat down to the others.

In the end they were all just in time; Harry under and Rose under the Cloak and Remus, Lily and Severus under the Blanket that Rose had hastily tossed over them.

Harry's eyes flickered up to see Tom Marvolo Riddle approaching them. His face was similar to the boy who had emerged from the diary, yet the handsomeness that had been such a large part of Tom's original charm had been eclipsed by a darker, harder edge. A shiver that had little to do with the breezy weather send a chill down his spine at being so close to the man who had so callously murdered his parents.

A hand pressed itself against his shoulder, and he turned his gaze to Rose, who was looking at him with concern written all over her face. It was so like Hermione's that he nearly did a double take. It hit him how much he missed his best friends, and how much he wished they could have been here with him, on this crazy adventure. His heart pounded in his chest at that last thought. He was doing something, he was actually helping his family defeat Voldemort. It was the most elating feeling, and he felt a small smile steal across his lips because of it.

Now staring at him with a look of mixed astonishment, Rose made to pull something out of her bag but was cut off by Voldemort's sharp voice.

"_Accio Cloak_."

They all froze, but nothing happened. Harry resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief.

Voldemort scanned the area with calculating eyes, taking in the empty tent and bunks before stalking off to remove the wards on the Gaunt House.

Harry felt Rose's elbow dig into his side as she maneuvered her notebook out to take notes. For a while, there was no sound other than the occasionally mutter incantation and the near-silent scribbling of Rose's Muggle pencil on paper. Time passed slowly, in Harry's sleepy mind, but eventually the wards were undone and Voldemort entered the shack to find his Horcrux.

Soon after he exited, evidently appeased now that he knew that the ring was safe. Voldemort hesitated, casting some more protective wards, and after a moment he Apparated away with a pop.

Harry let out a large breath. "Great. He's gone. How much of that did you get?" He and Rose shrugged off the Cloak, and Harry saw the others shedding the Blanket in a similar fashion.

"All of it!" was Lily and Rose's cheerful reply.

"Well," Remus scratched the back of his head bashfully. "This was probably would have been the most terrifying thing to happen all day, but today I met all of you from the future so I'm a bit torn."

"You should be more scared of them," Snape snorted, as Rose set about re-casting her own wards on the tent.

"What about those ones he cast afterwards?" Harry asked Rose.

"Those were just to keep people out of the area. We're already here, so as long as we don't leave and no one else tries to get in we should be fine," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Lily pursed her lips. "What about the others?"

"They'll be too busy slacking off to try and contact us but we could send them a Patronus," Rose continued absently.

"Seems like you've got it all figured out," Remus commented.

"Well, who do you think turned this whole ridiculous scheme into something more feasible in the first place?"

Harry resisted the urge to laugh.

* * *

**AN: I'm juggling I suppose 4 different fics at the moment, but it is summer, so I'm hoping for more regular updates here on out. Make sure to leave reviews as my incentive! I'm okay with beratements when I'm late, too. ;)**


	13. The Prankster-GAWD Arc iv

AN: Here we go! **In case of confusion, the parts with Ginny and Harry take place during the beginning of the Weasley-Snape arc.**

* * *

The Gaunt House

"It's hopeless," Rose murmured dully, from where they all sat in a deformed circle around the massive pile of notes and books. "We're never going to be able to crack this without outside help. Even if we manage to figure out how to dismantle the wards, there's no way we'll have the magical ability and power to do it. I hate to say this but_—_"

"_—_we need help," Snape finished, just as dully as he shoved a pile of parchments away from him, pinching the bridge of his nose with his other hand. "Well, it's quite spectacular that we got as far as we did. Commendable, actually."

"That's about the nicest thing I've ever heard you say to someone other than me," Lily commented wryly, flopping backwards onto a pillow.

"You should take it as a very loud declaration of appreciation for you intelligence," Remus added, rubbing his eyes tiredly. His hair, which was normally and brown tangled mess, looked even more so after he had raked his hands through it numerous times in frustration.

"I'm too dumb for this kind of work," Harry groaned, yanking off his glasses. The few hours of sleep he and Rose had gotten did not seem nearly enough to combat the fighting weariness in his body. "Why couldn't time travel let us take Hermione with us? She'd have this done in a heartbeat."

"So who can we go to?" Rose began, pulling out a piece of parchment at random from the pile and flipping it over to start a list. "We can narrow them down to our best options after."

"Erm, James' parents might help. We could ask the Prewett brothers; Fabian still owes me one," Remus started.

"Fabian Prewett owes you one?" Lily sounded incredulous. "What in Merlin's name for?" The Prewett brothers were notorious for owing no one and holding their own. If anything, it was other people who owed them, not the other way around.

"I've been sworn to secrecy," was all they could get out of Remus.

* * *

The Hogwarts Grounds - (_hours earlier_)

"Damnit," an adult Harry Potter cursed as he picked himself off of the grass. "Let me guess, we just missed them."

Ginny, her red hair in mussed, frizzy waves all over her head, sighed in affirmation. "They can't have gone too far. Where_—_" she spotted the Whomping Willow in the distance.

"Bingo," muttered Harry, helping Ginny off the ground.

"Bingo?" Ginny asked in puzzlement.

"Muggle saying," Harry offered as they simultaneously cast Disillusionment Charms over themselves. "They might not be there anymore, but we'll see what hints we can pick up."

There was a sudden explosion of light from the Willow that could only be that of a corporeal Patronus. In fact, if Harry didn't know better, he would've said it was his own corporeal Patronus ...

"That's them!" Ginny cried out, as they sprinted towards it.

* * *

Harry barely remembered to send a twig to touch the knot of the Whomping Willow_— _he hadn't run this hard and this fast in ages, an he was an _Auror—_

He and Ginny we just about to enter the tunnel, wands lit, when everything inside went pitch-black.

"Instant Darkness Powder," Harry groaned. "I'm going to have a word with Fred and George when we get back. This can't keep happening!"

"What do we do now? They've probably Apparated away by now ..."

"We'll go to the locket Horcrux," Harry stated firmly. "That was next on the list, right? We can replace it before they get there and make sure it's not destroyed."

* * *

The Horcrux Cave

They arrived easily enough, and Harry— over Ginny's loud protestations— provided the blood sacrifice to open the cave. It was just as gloomy and dark as Harry remembered it to be the first time; the only difference was that he was no longer afraid. Instead, he surveyed the area with a sort of grim sense of foreboding.

_Being an Auror has it perks, at least,_ Harry thought as he summoned the boat.

Harry got in first, and held out his hand to help Ginny in before remembering that it could only Transport one witch or wizard at a time. As much as she tried, she could no seem to pass some sort of invisible barrier that prevented her entry.

"Well," she said cautiously, "I'll be right here for when the Inferi come out."

"If they come out at all," Harry remarked, removing a set of fleshy lips identical to Rose's. The boat made it way slowly across the lake.

"What if it doesn't work? Why don't we just leave the real one there and wait for them to show up and ground them until they leave Hogwarts."

Harry looked frustrated, "Then we try something else. And we can't, because they might have already locked it into the timeline— they started out before us, remember? And this method of travel paces time with our internal clocks; not how much we jump around or whatever." It had made more sense when Hermione had explained it to him. Climbing out of the boat, Harry stepped up towards the too-familiar basin, his heart slamming in his chest.

This was where Dumbledore had taken him the night before he had died.

Blinking back the overwhelming emotions, Harry cast a few precautionary charms and activated the prank toy, dropping it in. The potion began to disappear at a rather alarming rate, but Harry comforted himself with the fact that the potion was still retrievable from the device afterwards. Eventually it emptied out, and Harry reached in a hand to pick up the locket, only to find himself blocked by another invisible barrier.

"It won't let me pick it up," Harry said dully to his wife.

"Try just duplicating it first. If they already locked a destroyed locket into the timeline, then we'll have to duplicate it and wait around until they've destroyed the copy so we can recreate the effects it caused," Ginny suggested.

Raking a hand through his hair, Harry let out a loud noise of annoyance. "They might have gotten to the ring by then! Then what?"

"Then we catch up with them there next," Ginny said firmly. "They won't be able to break those wards easily."

All this time travel was really messing with Harry's head, and since he'd had a headache to start with, it was not helping. "Al and James are going to be grounded for the _rest of their natural lives_."

* * *

When the deed was done, Mr and Mrs Potter sat outside on the beach under Harry's Invisibility Cloak to wait.

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter - (_the Potter and Weasley children's current time_)

James and Sirius had barely dozed off on the couch when the Potter boys and Hugo came barreling back down the stairs, the youngest looking thoroughly panicked. Shaking an irate James awake, James Sirius stared his namesake right in the face.

"What!" Sirius exclaimed, "I'm sorry, we were tired too you know—!"

Albus' normally calm facade had shattered. "_Where is Lily Luna_?"

The answering, dread-filled silence was not what any of the boys wanted to hear.

* * *

AN: GAAAAAK! -collapses into a pile on the floor- Forgive me the cliffhanger.


	14. The Prankster-GAWD Arc v

AN: I had too much fun with the beginning of this chapter. Lily Luna is well trained in the art of acting like a creepy little girl. I've been having a teeny amount of trouble with consistency issues because of the gaps between writing chapters, and I realized I'd originally assigned Lily Luna to the other team, but that's fixed now.

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Malfoy

Lucius Malfoy had been instructed to wait outside the Potter house, invisible and disguised, for someone to appear. He'd thought it a fruitless task - certainly no one would be stupid enough to go wandering around outside - but lo and behold a small redheaded girl had come prancing out with a furry pet squirming in her hands.

He had wasted no time in scooping her up, but the little brat had fought back, scratching and kicking and screaming even after he'd cast _Silencio_ on her. Lucius had no idea of what he was supposed to do with the wilful child, so he Apparated back to Malfoy Manor. Surely Narcissa would know what to do.

The girl was now sitting cross-legged on the middle of his Persian rug with an absolutely evil expression on her face. It almost gave him chills, but he wasn't about to let some child scare him, especially when he was supposed to be a big scary Death Eater.

* * *

Lily Luna had always tried to emulate her role model, Rose Weasley. She strove to be like her older cousin in every way possible. Therefore it was not hard for her to recall how Rose had acted in the face of Scorpius' parents. Lucius had gone to do his hair or something, and Lily Luna was left in the Malfoy drawing room with Narcissa Malfoy, hair mussed and squirming pet ferret in her hands. No, it was not hard to remember how Rose had acted at all, but that wasn't quite how Lily Luna was planning to act.

"Hello." Narcissa looked wary of the girl who had succeeded in making her husband look as if he'd been attacked by an angry owl. She was sitting in an armoire in front of a fireplace that Lily noted was most likely connected to the floo.

"Hello, my name is Lily Luna, it's a pleasure to meet you." Lily Luna made her eyes as wide and round as possible, forcing as much sickly sweetness as she could into her tone. "You must be Mrs. Malfoy." She quirked her head slightly to the side. "I don't suppose you have a place where I can place Draco?" Lily held up the ferret, who was sniffing at the fancy perfume scent in the air.

Narcissa blinked at the little girl with the impeccable manners and unruly hair. "Nice to meet you, too," she said slowly, obviously confused as to why Lily was being so nice to her kidnappers.

"Your husband is really strong. And I like his hair, it's really silky. I'm dreadfully sorry I had to pull on it so." She gave Narcissa an innocent smile. "But it will grow back, I think. Hopefully." Lily Luna wrinkled her freckled, button nose. "Unless, you know, my brothers come find me and set it on fire with U-No-Poo," she giggled.

Standing up rather abruptly, Narcissa cast a Shield Charm around herself and sat back down.

"Do you really think I can't get rid of a Shield Charm? I find that kind of insulting."

It was going to be a very long evening.

* * *

The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter

"What do we do?" wailed Hugo, "Lily's missing! We have to find her, James! We have to find her!"

Unsure as to who Hugo was talking to, both Jameses shrugged in unison.

"Calm down. Remember that spell dad taught us all? The Four-Point-Spell? We can use that, for starters," Albus said.

"Right, I remember that spell," James rumpled his hair nervously before pulling out his wand. "_Point me_." The wand did not light up and did not proceed to spin around and point in the direction of Lily Luna.

Hugo made a disappointed sound.

"That must mean she's somewhere with protective Charms," Sirius deduced. "Which is why the spell can't track her."

Al and James Sirius stared at him.

"What? I learned things at Hogwarts, alright? Is it that much of a surprise? I do want to be an Auror."

"Sorry," James Sirius said, "it's just all we ever hear about you is that you were a Marauder and did crazy things like making the headmaster's beard disappear."

James tried and failed to suppress a snort.

"So where do you think they took her?" Hugo asked Sirius.

"Malfoy Manor? Malfoy was at the graduation, maybe he saw you guys. Snape did get that letter from him earlier," Al reasoned.

"Right!" Sirius exclaimed, "So let's go kick some Malfoy arse!"

"We can't just burst in there - there are Death Eaters in there! At the very least we have to wait for the others to come back," James Sirius protested.

It was then that the Patronus burst in; Rose's bright white cat who looked suspiciously like Crookshanks.

"_Voldemort showed up, don't worry, all fine. Cannot enter or leave because of wards; do not contact unless there's an emergency_," the cat spoke before vanishing.

"Well bullocks," Al said dully.

* * *

The Horcrux Cave - (_hours earlier_)

Both Ginny and Harry took turns restraining each other as they watched the children battle the Inferi.

"We. Can't. Do. Anything. This already happened," Harry was muttering between gritted teeth. He had thought he'd be able to stop them even if they had already destroyed the locket, but apparently Time didn't like them messing with it more than they already had. He was tempted to shut his eyes and hum, but they were supposed to be paying attention to what was going on.

Ginny tugged on his arm. "Come on, let's wait by the exit so we can leave when they open it."

* * *

Ginny was holding the fake-locket as Harry watched Snape battle with the supposed Riddle-Lily. They'd changed their original plan - they would allow the real locket to tempt Snape and would swap it before he could really destroy it.

"He studied the Dark Arts," Harry had argued. "The effect needs to be realistic. Plus we wouldn't be able to mimic Lily realistically. We don't know enough of their history."

Snape took a step towards Rose, then, and Harry tried to run forwards but was stopped by the same invisible force. In what seemed like slow-motion Snape raised the dagger, and Harry realized he was aiming for the locket, not his niece. Whirling to face his wife, who was kneeling before the real-locket, Harry cast a charm to blur the surroundings so the rest of the group wouldn't notice the switch.

Ginny swapped lockets and took a large step back as Snape stabbed the fake as the real locket screeched in indignation.

"We just saved you, you stupid piece of soul," Harry muttered, wincing as the cries hit his still throbbing head.

"Always ungrateful, Voldemort is," Ginny commented wryly.

Harry moved to take off his Cloak, but his arm wouldn't budge. "I can't take off the Cloak." He watched as the kids Apparated away before trying to move his arm again. It worked, and he let out a groan.

Ginny sighed. "Probably because this already happened, and they didn't see us the first time, so we can't reveal ourselves now."

Even more annoyed, Harry stomped over to Ginny and held out his hand for the locket. "Let's put this back and refill the potion."

* * *

"Try dropping your Occlumency shields again," Ginny suggested, although she didn't look happy about it. "We need to see where your 13-year-old self is."

Gritting his teeth for what was probably the fiftieth time today, Harry shut his eyes and lowered his shields slowly. This time the pain was less, and he could make out the images more clearly. "They just— they just avoided Voldemort. They're at the Gaunt House and— they've gotten a Patronus from Al— the Patronus ..." Harry tried to focus on the floating memories. He reached out, in his mind, and grabbed the brightest one. The memory engulfed his vision, and soon he found himself seeing out of his younger self's eyes.

* * *

The silver stag burst in and spoke with the voice of Albus Severus Potter. Harry fondly recalled teaching his son the spell, and how proud Al had been at having the same Patronus. Quickly scanning the limited peripheral vision of young-Harry showed Lily, Snape, Remus and Rose in the tent, and the Gaunt House visible through it's opening.

"_We think Lucius Malfoy has kidnapped Lily Luna. What should we do_." The voice was shaky.

Harry recognized his son's panic and fear and felt a wrench in his heart.

Harry saw Rose clap a hand over her mouth before bursting into tears.

Harry watched Snape reach out and place a hand comfortingly over her's.

Harry noticed Lily and Remus exchanging worried glances.

The memory ended.

* * *

AN: Okay, so this arc is still not done but it will probably be in two more chapters, just a heads up. Please review!


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